This dissertation provides evidence of the return to education in Iran as well as measurement of inequality of opportunity and the Human Opportunity Index using cross-section data of Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies and Harmonized Household Income and Expenditure Surveys of several Middle Eastern Countries. The first chapter studies the return to education and the effect of school availability on education attainment in Iran. The Census 2006 allows us to get closer to the district of schooling by focusing on non-migrants. We estimate the return to education and the effect of school availability both for migrant and non-migrant sub-samples. We employ school availability as an instrument to correct the ability bias. We find availability of school increases women's education attainment more than men's and it is higher among the non-migrant sample. Using instrumental variable, the return to education is 6.50% in 2012 suggesting an upward bias in OLS. The second chapter provides estimates of Human Opportunity Index (HOI) in the Middle East and North Africa. Our estimates show the HOI improve over time in MENA region and compare favorably with similar measures computed for other regions, notably Latin America. Using Shapley decomposition, we find that parental background and place of living are the most important circumstances explaining inequality of opportunity to access in basic opportunities. Understanding the change in HOI and factors that influence it most complement existing analyses of inequality of opportunity in education, earning, and consumption for MENA countries because they focus on aspects of inequality of opportunity that are largely provided by the state. The third chapter provides estimates of inequality of educational opportunity using TIMSS dataset. We estimate the index of IOP using the ex-ante approach both for the fourth and eighth grade. The computed index of IOP shows that there is an improvement in IOP both for mathematics and science from grade four to eight. The investigations about relevant inputs suggest that there is a negative relationship between educational expenditure and the level of IOP. The relationship between the index of IOP and average economic growth as well as GDP per capita is positive. / Ph. D. / This dissertation provides evidence of the return to education in Iran as well as measurement of inequality of opportunity and the Human Opportunity Index using cross-section data of Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies and Harmonized Household Income and Expenditure Surveys of several Middle Eastern Countries. The first chapter studies the return to education and the effect of school availability on education attainment in Iran. The results show school availability has a positive and significant effect on women education attainment. We also estimate the rates of return to education for men between 25-60 years old in Iran in 2006 and 2012. Our findings show that the returns to schooling decline in Iran between 2006 and 2012. The second chapter provides estimates of Human Opportunity Index (HOI) in the Middle East and North Africa. Our estimates show the HOI improve over time in MENA region and compare favorably with similar measures computed for other regions, notably Latin America. The HOI evaluates the basic opportunities which mostly publicly provided. This makes the HOI relevant for understanding the effectiveness of MENA governments in providing children with an equal chance to succeed. Our findings show the HOI improves over time in MENA. The improvement over time is not surprising because as a service expands, especially if it starts inequitably, it generally covers more of the less advantaged households. The third chapter provides estimates of inequality of educational opportunity (IOP) using TIMSS dataset. We estimate the index of IOP using variance decomposition method. Our estimates show that in most countries of our sample the index of IOP increases from fourth grade to eighth grade suggesting the circumstances out of the control of an individual play important role in higher level of education. We investigate the correlational relationship between the index of IOP and some economic characteristics. Our findings suggest that there is a negative relationship between educational expenditure and the level of IOP. The relationship between the index of IOP and average economic growth as well as GDP per capita is positive.

Prior research supports the relationship between education and status attainment, mobility, and occupational attainment. Today, within an increasingly bifurcated labor market, where education is important for occupational attainment and the associated income and benefits, understanding the processes of status attainment is important. Educational expectations shape educational attainment, while educational attainment influences occupational attainment and satisfaction. Utilizing the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study investigated the moderating effects of expectations on the relationship between education and occupational satisfaction. The results of this study partially support the moderating effects of expectations on the relationship between degree earned and career satisfaction, finding that expectations moderate this relationship for individuals who earned a bachelor's degree.

Previous research in the spatial assimilation of racial and ethnic groups has not assessed trends over time due to methodological difficulties and data limitations. I use an innovative method to assess the intercensal changes in neighborhood spatial attainment for African Americans, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites in Houston, Texas, between 1970 and 2000. I extend the current literature by showing that an accepted and commonly used method for assessing longitudinal change in spatial attainment is flawed and yields incorrect results. I highlight an alternative approach which makes use of data readily available in Census Summary Files to estimate individual-level spatial attainment regressions. I also show that the choice of neighborhood size affects estimates of spatial attainment effects. Although the influence of spatial scale has been demonstrated in the segregation literature, its consequences for spatial attainment research have not. I investigate and report findings from four geographic scales useful to and commonly used by spatial attainment researchers: the block group, the Census tract, the Zip Code Tabulated Area, and the Public Use Micro Data Area. I compare the benefits and drawbacks of estimating spatial attainment at each level of geography.

As the effects of climate change worsen, the role and importance of forests in climate mitigation strategies seem to be growing. However, key actors have different views of how the forests should be used in order to curb the consequences of climate change. The future use of forest will therefore depend on these actors’ ability to realize their visions in the political arena. This thesis sets out to investigate how and to what extent a certain type of actor, in this case interest groups, influences forest policy. This is accomplished through a qualitative content analysis of the process toward Sweden’s first national forest program, using preference attainment as the theoretical approach to measure the influence of each interest group. The main finding is that interest groups representing economic values had a larger amount of influence on the policy-making process than interest groups representing environmental values. The study’s primary contribution to the interest group research field is hence empirical.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the extent to which educational attainment, school quality and numeric competency influence individuals’ employment and earnings prospects in the South African labour market using data from the 2008 National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). While NIDS is one of the first datasets to contain concurrent information on individual labour market outcomes, educational attainment levels, numeric proficiency and the quality of schooling received in South Africa, it is also characterised by limited and selective response patterns on its school quality and numeracy measures. To account for any estimation biases that arise from the selective observation of these variables or from endogenous selection into labour force participation and employment, the labour market returns to human capital are estimated using the Heckman Maximum Likelihood (ML) approach. The Heckman ML estimates are then compared to Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimates obtained using various sub-samples and model specifications in order to distinguish between the effects that model specification, estimation sample, and estimation procedure have on estimates of the labour market returns to human capital in South Africa. The findings from the multivariate analysis suggest that labour market returns to educational attainment in South Africa are largely negligible prior to tertiary levels of attainment and that racial differentials in school quality may explain a significant component of the observed racial differentials in South African labour market earnings. Neither numeracy nor school quality appears to influence labour market outcomes or the convex structure of the labour market returns to educational attainment in South Africa significantly once sociodemographic factors and other human capital endowment differentials have been taken into account. Though the regression results vary substantially across model specifications and estimation samples, they are largely unaffected by attempts to correct for instances of endogenous selection using the Heckman ML procedure. These findings suggest that the scope for overcoming data deficiencies by using standard parametric estimation techniques may be limited when the extent of those deficiencies are severe and that some form of sensitivity analysis is warranted whenever data imperfections threaten to undermine the robustness of one’s results. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek in watter mate opvoedingspeil, skoolgehalte en numeriese vaardighede individue se werks- en verdienstevooruitsigte in die Suid-Afrikaanse arbeidsmark beïnvloed. Die studie gebruik data van die 2008 National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). Alhoewel NIDS een van die eerste datastelle is wat inligting oor individuele arbeidsmarkuitkomste, opvoedingsvlakke, numeriese vaardighede sowel as skoolgehalte bevat, word dit ook gekenmerk deur beperkte en selektiewe responspatrone rakende skoolgehalte en die numeriese vaardigheidmaatstaf. Die arbeidsmarkopbrengs op menslike kapitaal word deur middel van die Heckman ‘Maximum Likelihood (ML)’-metode geskat om te kontroleer vir moontlike sydighede wat mag onstaan weens selektiewe waarneming van hierdie veranderlikes of as gevolg van endogene seleksie in arbeidsmarkdeelname of indiensneming. Die Heckman ML-skattings word dan vergelyk met gewone kleinste-kwadrate-skattings wat met behulp van verskeie modelspesifikasies en steekproewe beraam is, om sodoende te bepaal hoe verskillende spesifikasies, steekproewe en beramingstegnieke skattings van die arbeidsmarkopbrengste op menslike kapitaal in Suid-Afrika beïnvloed. Die meerveranderlike-analise dui daarop dat daar grotendeels onbeduidende arbeidsmarkopbrengste is op opvoeding in Suid-Afrika vir opvoedingsvlakke benede tersiêre vlak, en dat rasseverskille in skoolgehalte ’n beduidende deel van waargenome rasseverskille in arbeidsmarkverdienste mag verduidelik. Indien sosio-demografiese faktore en ander menslike kapitaalverskille in ag geneem word, beïnvloed syfervaardigheid en skoolgehalte nie arbeidsmarkuitkomstes en die konvekse struktuur van die arbeidsmarkopbrengste op opvoeding in Suid-Afrika beduidend verder nie. Terwyl die regressieresultate aansienlik tussen die verskillende modelspesifikasies en steekproewe verskil, word die resultate weinig geraak deur vir gevalle van endogene seleksie met behulp van die Heckman ML-metode te kontroleer. Hierdie bevindinge dui daarop dat daar net beperkte ruimte bestaan om ernstige dataleemtes met behulp van standaard parametriese beramingstegnieke te oorkom, en dat die een of ander vorm van sensitiwiteitsanalise benodig word wanneer datagebreke die betroubaarheid van die beraamde resultate nadelig kan raak.

The study of the relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and mortality patterns has been a traditional research focus in demography, representing one of the core areas of the discipline. In Latin America, there is an important set of studies that show a significant inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and mortality rates. However, mainly due to limitations in the available data, we know very little about the specific relation between educational attainment and adult mortality. This inverse relationship between educational attainment and mortality rates provides just the tip of the iceberg for a large set of questions: How wide are educational differences in overall adult mortality in Argentina? Does the association between educational attainment and adult mortality vary by age group, gender and region? Are there unique adult mortality patterns by education among specific causes of death? Has the adult mortality differential by education attainment widened or narrowed as education attainment increased between 1991 and 2010? The main objective of this research was to describe and analyze the relationship between educational attainment and adult mortality patterns during the 1991-2010 period in Argentina. The data used in this study come from the Argentinian Mortality Files for the period 1991-2010 and from the 1991, 2001 and 2010 Argentinian Censuses. Results show a clear gradient in the specific mortality rates according to educational groups, for both sexes and for all age groups. The existence and direction of this relationship was as expected; however, the magnitude of educational differences was much higher than what has been found in other countries. The data also exhibited a clear declining trend in mortality inequalities by education as age increased. Educational differences in overall adult mortality did not display an increasing pattern over time. The year 2001, which was characterized by serious economic and social crisis in the country, displayed the highest educational inequalities in mortality in comparison to either 1991 or 2010. The findings of this dissertation are relevant to policy questions about health care and social inequalities in death. / text

The purpose of the present investigation was to identify how knowledge about goal-setting is developed and applied in practice of male players in the Swedish national floorball team, by using a qualitative methodology. Participants were 6 players playing for the Swedish national team. They were asked to respond to the interview questions in relation to their perception of setting goals for a successful outcome in sports, how their goal- setting process has developed and how they deal with goal setbacks and goal attainment. Results revealed that Swedish national players in floorball employed goal setting often for both individual and team goals in practice and competition. In addition, many interesting findings regarding the process of goal setting emerged in the result. The players are aware of their goal-setting process as well the importance of using a combination of both long term and short term goals on a individual and team level. Most of the players do not write down their goals. Their goal commitments were mostly related to winning. The players also experienced that their goal-setting process was efficient but believed that the national team lacked in evaluation, feedback and a dialogue, especially on an individual level. The player’s perception was that they have the right skills to deal with setbacks. When the players reach a goal they are strict with taking the goal to the next level. These findings are discussed in relation to the empirical/ theoretical goal-setting literature and suggestions for best practice by goal setting research are offered.

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of academic assistance programs on at-risk students at the United States Naval Academy. Each year, students determined to be at-risk are enrolled in an academic assistance program known as the Plebe Intervention Program. In addition, other academic assistance programs are available to these students. In particular, the Naval Academy administers a program known as the Midshipmen Group Study Program, which is based on the supplemental instruction model. This study examines the impact of participation in each of these programs as a determinant to persistence beyond the freshman year. Other determinants examined included demographics (ethnicity and gender), course grades, athletic status, and preadmittance data (SAT scores).

This thesis consists of four individual essays and an introduction chapter. The essays are in the field of multilevel analysis of economic data. The first essay estimates capitalisation effects of farm attributes, with a particular focus on single farm payments (SFP), into the price of farms. Using a sample of Swedish farm transactions sold all across the country, the results from a spatial multiple-membership model suggests that the local effect of SFP is negative while there is a positive between-region effect of SFP, on farm prices.   The second essay investigates the extent to which differences in the probability to exit from part-time unemployment to a full-time job can be accounted for by spatial contextual factors and individual characteristics. To correctly incorporate contextual effects, a multilevel analysis was applied to explore whether contextual factors account for differences in the probability of transition to full-time employment between individuals with different characteristics. The results indicate that there is a contextual effect and that there are some spatial spill-over effects from neighbouring municipalities.   The third essay investigates the determinants of educational attainment for third-generation immigrants and natives in Sweden. Using a mixed-effects model that includes unobserved family heterogeneity, for linked register data, the main result is that the effect of parent’s educational attainment is mainly due to the between-parental education effect of family income.   The fourth and last essay presents a new robust strategy for performance evaluation in the case of panel data that is based on routinely collected variables or indicators. The suggested strategy applies a cross-classified, mixed-effect model. The strategy is implemented in two illustrative empirical examples, and the robustness is investigated in a Monte Carlo study.

First part of the thesis reviews current literature on self-control, with a particular focus on the strength model of self-control. This model asserts that the ability to self-control depends on a limited resource, which gets depleted with its use. According to the model, the ability to self-control is dependent on one resource. The experimental part of the thesis purports to ascertain whether two resources can in fact be identified - one for initiatory self-control and another one for inhibitory self-control. Two types of manipulations were tested in the experiment. The results showed that one type of experimental manipulation hadn't led to any measurable depletion of initiatory self-control whilst the second type of manipulation had indeed led to results that may be interpreted as a support for distinguishing between inhibitory and initiatory self-control. It would be an interesting finding that would broaden our current knowledge about self-control if the findings of the thesis were successfully replicated in a study addressing limitations of the present research. Keywords: self-control, experiment, strength model of self-control, initiatory self-control, inhibitory self-control, Stroop task