This thesis consists of three independent but thematically related papers exploring the income determination process in African labour markets from spatial and sectoral perspectives. Using long-run household panel data from rural Tanzania, chapter 2 investigates the extent to which education can explain migrants' income and consumption gains. We expect that the higher return to schooling at the destination primarily drives migrants' gains, suggesting that those who cannot afford the cost of schooling cannot reap the benefits of migration. We find that education indeed plays the role, but that it does not appear to be a major factor in limiting the internal migration as a source of raising income and consumption. Exploiting data drawn from urban household panel surveys in Ghana and Tanzania, chapter 3 investigates how rural-to-urban migrants' earnings compare with those of natives in urban labour markets. The chapter attempts to identify the growth of migrants' earnings at the destination (assimilation), making a distinction between wage and self-employed migrants. We find that wage-dependent migrants would achieve higher lifetime earnings if they entered a self-employed sector from their arrival, conditional on individuals' attributes and the varying returns to those attributes across urban residents. The evidence points towards the importance of capital constraints in a decision to start a business. Using firm-level data of manufacturing and retailing from the Enterprise Surveys conducted in seven Sub-Saharan African countries, chapter 4 attempts to improve our understanding of enterprise performance in urban Africa by investigating three aspects of firms' productive structure: technology, total factor productivity (TFP), and firm size. We find that the technology is similar between sectors, that retailing firms are smaller and less capital intensive but not, on average, ones with lower TFP, and that TFP differences are primarily within sectors. All these findings might point towards the importance of factor prices in characterising the industrial structure in urban Africa.

The efficient operation and expansion of utilities in developing countries is crucial for growth and poverty reduction. However, recent reforms aimed at improving the performance of these sectors through privatization and the introduction of new regulatory regimes have had limited success. This thesis aims to consider the most pertinent problems for utility regulation in developing countries and how policy may need to be adapted appropriately. The thesis begins by surveying the most recent empirical and theoretical work on the area. I argue that four key institutional limitations commonly found in developing countries must be considered when designing regulatory policy: Limited capacity, limited accountability, limited commitment and limited fiscal efficiency. The remainder of the thesis then focuses on two of these weaknesses – limited commitment and limited accountability – to develop further insights into how regulatory policy may be most suitably adapted. In considering the effect of limited commitment, I pursue a theoretical approach. I first focus on the relationship between the government and the utility operator when the government cannot commit to a time-inconsistent policy of not expropriating investment. After building a model where reputation is used to sustain investment in equilibrium, I consider the model’s implications for policy. The thesis then builds a different model to consider the impact of governments’ inability to commit when trading electricity internationally. I focus on the resulting hold-up problem and the impact this has on investment levels within trading countries. The effect of limited accountability is then investigated empirically through the analysis of data on electricity firms and regulators in Latin America. In particular, I consider how firms’ performance is affected by corruption, ownership and regulatory governance, looking in detail at interactions between these variables and attempting to break down regulatory governance into its various components.

Powerful individuals often influence the delivery of government services for their own purposes. Officials may prefer inherently to direct assistance to their own relatives and social contacts (nepotistic preferences). Alternatively, they may use government services strategically in exchange for favors (patronage) or to gain voter support (clientelism). Most existing literature examines these three phenomena separately, or does not distinguish the motivations for politicians’ influence on distribution. Causal identification has also been a problem in the empirical literature. In the first chapter of this thesis, I develop a theoretical model of interaction between three levels of actors: politicians, local patrons, and households. The model allows for politicians and patrons to influence government services for nepotistic, clientelistic, and patronage purposes. In chapters 2-4, I test the predictions of the model using two novel household survey datasets I collected along with my collaborators in rural Punjab, Pakistan. Chapter 2 tests the theoretical predictions for the interaction of politicians, patrons and voters. Chapters 3 and 4 provide quasi-experimental evidence on the causal effect of links with politicians on assistance. I find evidence that politicians exert dramatic influence on the targeting of government assistance in this setting. Consistent with the theoretical model, the most assistance goes to a small “inner circle” of their closest contacts. Politicians assist this “inner circle” based on their inherent preferences, regardless of electoral pressure. When politicians face electoral pressure, they also deliver assistance to a wider group, in particular members of the same clan. In contrast, local patrons do not appear to have significant independent influence over the targeting of the government assistance programs I study, but they do provide other types of assistance to households. Their behavior is more consistent with the idea that they are motivated by inherent preferences for assisting their contacts. The results have implications for the interpretation of empirical literature on nepotism, clientelism, and patronage. They can also inform the policies of donor agencies and civil society organizations who aim to engage or pressure governments to reduce corruption and improve public spending.

Thesis advisor: Arthur Lewbel / Thesis advisor: S Anukriti / In this dissertation, I attempt to better understand the inner workings of the household: Do parents favor certain types of children? When do parents decide to have their children work? How can we identify inequality within the household? These issues are fundamental to economic development and closely related to individual welfare. However, studying these questions is difficult since the household is in many ways a blackbox to economists; consumption data is typically collected at the household level, and concepts like bargaining power are not observable. My research examines these questions in a variety of different contexts in the developing world. In Chapter 1, I test for consumption inequality between foster and non-foster children in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Chapter 2, I examine the relationship between child labor and fertility in Nigerian households. Lastly, I study the identification of intrahousehold inequality in collective households in Chapter 3. Chapter 1: In “Consumption Inequality Among Children: Evidence from Child Fostering in Malawi", I study how resources are allocated among foster and non- foster children in Malawi. Child fostering is widespread in parts of Africa and the wellbeing of these children, who may be particularly vulnerable to impoverishment, is not well known. However, identifying individual-level consumption is difficult, since goods are shared and consumption is measured at the household level. Recent work on intrahousehold resource allocation has inferred child consumption from household- level spending on child-specific goods (e.g., child clothing). This literature is often dependent on the existence of goods in the data that are consumed exclusively by a particular type of person in the household. These studies are therefore limited by the level of assignability of goods within the consumption survey. Stated differently, to identify inequality between foster and non-foster children using existing techniques, I would need to observe expenditure on a good that is consumed separately by foster and non-foster children. Because I do not, I develop a new methodology using the collective framework to measure consumption inequality between foster and non-foster children. I find little evidence of inequality between foster and non-foster children. I then divide foster children by whether the child is orphaned, and I find that orphan-foster child consumption is 23 percent less than non-orphan foster child consumption. The results of this paper suggest that policymakers should design programs to improve the relative standing of orphan-foster children in the household. The methodological contribution of this paper is applicable to other contexts as intrahousehold inequality among children is widespread. Chapter 2: In “Child Labor Laws and Household Fertility Decision: Evidence from Nigeria" I study the Child Rights Act of Nigeria (CRA). In 2003, the Nigerian National Assembly implemented this law, which codified existing child labor standards and dramatically increased the penalties for employing children. I exploit the Child Rights Act to both understand the employment consequences of a child labor legislation, and to analyze the effect of lowering the economic value of children on fertility rates. Identification comes from variation in the timing of when each Nigerian state adopted the law, and from variation in the law’s age restrictions. Consistent with recent theoretical and empirical evidence, I find the Child Rights Act increased child employment at both the intensive and extensive margins. I then model household fertility decisions to demonstrate that the demand for children is increasing in child wages and therefore influenced by changes in the child labor market. I empirically test the model implications by examining the effect of the Child Rights Act on fertility rates, but find little to no effect. Chapter 3: In “Identification of Resource Shares with Multiple Assignable Goods" (with Caitlin Brown and Rossella Calvi), we study intrahousehold inequality. We develop a new methodology using the collective framework to identify resource shares, defined as the fraction of household resources consumed by each household member. We build upon recent work by Dunbar, Lewbel, and Pendakur (2013) (DLP) who identify resource shares by observing how expenditure on a single private assignable good varies with household income and size. They achieve identification by making semi-parametric restrictions on preferences across either household members or household sizes. Because our data contain multiple private assignable goods, we are able to employ this additional data to weaken the DLP preference restrictions using a different approach, which we call “Differenced-Similar Across People" (D-SAP). Under D-SAP, preferences for the assignable goods are allowed to differ entirely across both household members. However, we introduce a weaker restriction that requires that preferences differ across people in a similar way across goods. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Thesis advisor: Robert G. Murphy / Income inequality is an issue of moral, ethical, and economic concern. Disparity in levels of wealth and income in developing countries prevents poor individuals from enjoying the same opportunities as their wealthier counterparts, and hinders the prospects for future development. FDI is one among several possible culprits responsible for increasing income inequality. As a representative of foreign control and influence in developing economies, some countries are wary of FDI. On the other hand, FDI brings the promise of jobs, technology spillovers, foreign exchange, and economic growth. Previous studies have explored the effects of FDI on income inequality in developing countries, but they have all relied on FDI data that does not distinguish between direct investment destined for the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. This study uses sectorally disaggregated FDI data for a sample of developing countries over the years 1990-2005 in an attempt to discern whether sector-specific features play a role in affecting domestic income inequality. While this study fails to find the FDI variables significant, it does find much support for other possible causes of income inequality, such as population growth rate and levels of urbanization within a country. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2007. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

The objective of this Dissertation is to develop alternative macromodels that explore macroeconomic implications of some environmental and ecological economics concerns. The first essay develops an environmental extension of a Lewis dual economy model to explore long-run effects of a pollution abatement rule in developing economies. It is shown that this pollution abatement requirement makes for the possible emergence of an ecological development trap. Meanwhile, this economy can be released from such a trap not only through a standard Big Push, but also by means of what the essay calls an Environmental Big Push. The second essay presents an extension of a Harrodian model of cyclical growth, which explores a bidirectional causal relationship between the environment and effective demand in dual low-income economies with relatively low levels of environmental quality. The model shows that perpetual vicious circles may characterize the pattern of fluctuations in economic activity. Finally, the third essay presents a classical--Marxian model that describes a possible transitional dynamics to clean technology based on evolutionary game theory. The results show that heterogeneity in the frequency distribution of strategies of the adoption of clean and dirty techniques may be a persistent outcome. An outcome in which all, or at least a great proportion of firms, adopt the clean technique is theoretically possible, but inevitably, such a result is only achieved with an initial profit-reducing shock on functional income distribution and thus a fall in economic growth. / O objetivo desta Dissertação é desenvolver modelos macro que exploram implicações econômicas de algumas questões ecológicas e ambientais. O primeiro ensaio desenvolve uma extensão ambiental de um modelo Lewisiano de economia dual para explorar efeitos de longo prazo de uma regra de abatimento da poluição em países em desenvolvimento. Mostra-se que tal regra pode gerar uma armadilha de desenvolvimento ecológica. Contudo, essa economia pode ser libertada da armadilha não apenas por meio de um Big Push padrão, mas também por meio do que o ensaio chama de um Big Push Ambiental. O segundo ensaio apresenta uma extensão de um modelo Harrodiano que explora uma relação causal bidirecional entre meio ambiente e demanda efetiva em economias duais de baixa renda com níveis baixos de qualidade ambiental. Mostra-se que círculos viciosos perpétuos podem caracterizar o padrão de flutuações cíclicas da atividade econômica. O terceiro ensaio apresenta um modelo clássico--Marxiano que explora uma possível dinâmica de transição para a tecnologia limpa baseada em jogos evolucionários. Mostra-se que a heterogeneidade na distribuição de frequência das estratégias de adoção de tecnologia limpa e suja pode ser persistente. Um resultado em que todas, ou uma grande proporção de firmas adota a tecnologia limpa, é teoricamente possível, mas só será atingido com um choque inicial redutor de lucros sobre a distribuição funcional da renda e uma queda no crescimento econômico

Throughout the period of neoliberal globalisation the ability of nation states to shape economic outcomes has been significantly diminished. Not only the number of policy tools at their disposal has been reduced, but the pressures of global integration have decreased the effectiveness of those remaining. This dissertation discusses how the state can increase the effectiveness of these remaining policy tools and promote more desirable economic outcomes by shaping corporate governance arrangements and by making use of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Chapter 2 provides a brief analysis of the global economy since the end of World War II (WWII). It examines the major ideological underpinnings and economic features of two distinct periods – the embedded liberal and the neoliberal. In addition, this chapter also discusses the impact of neoliberal globalisation on national economic sovereignty. Chapter 3 critically examines the Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance, which is considered as the ‘best practice’ by the neoliberal doctrine with regards to this matter. It is argued that the theories that legitimise this model are fundamentally flawed, and an alternative framework for analysing corporate governance is proposed. Chapter 4 examines the evolution of corporate governance arrangements in three advanced economies – the United States, Japan and Germany – since the end of WWII. In addition, this chapter also addresses the relationship between corporate governance arrangements, national competitiveness, and the effectiveness of policy tools. Chapter 5 analyses the ‘rise’ of SOEs in the early post-WWII period and their subsequent ‘fall’, from empirical and theoretical standpoints. Some important recent developments regarding SOEs are also discussed. Chapter 6 is devoted to examining the Singaporean development experience with special reference to SOEs. The peculiarities of Singaporean SOEs and the role played by them at different stages of Singapore’s economic development are analysed. In addition, different aspects concerning the relevance of SOEs in the contemporary Singaporean economy are assessed.

Education is a significant element for inclusive growth and sustainable development. In scholarship, understanding education has been fragmented due to conflicts between disciplines and methodologies. This thesis, consisting of three empirical essays, explores the impact of education for women’s employment and empowerment. As a context, this thesis has chosen South Korea as a newly industrialized but a non-Western originating economy during the mid-late twentieth century. All three essays adopt different theoretical frameworks and methodologies. The first essay adopts Capability Approach in order to understand the gendered translation of education into the labour market outcomes. In this essay, confidence is a societal conversion factor that individuals transform their resources into capabilities of labour market participation. Empirically, this essay shows that female public administration students in South Korea are less confident about entering labour market than their male counterparts, resulting in fewer capabilities of labour market participation. The second essay, comparing Korea with Singapore, which is another newly industrialized economy from the same period creates a historical and institutional basis to answer Korea’s much wider gender pay gap than the one of Singapore. This essay tests the hypothesis, previously built in the context of advanced economies, which states the negative association between gender pay gap and centrality of wage negotiation system in this comparative setting. The analysis of government documents and various sources demonstrates that Singapore with a narrow gender pay gap has a very centralized wage negotiation institution whereas Korea with a big gender pay gap has a fragmented negotiation. The third essay on Saemaul Women’s Club, a government-initiated nongovernmental organization, analyses the archival materials of memoirs of female Saemaul leaders in the rural areas for a bottom-up approach to women’s empowerment. Unlike the conventional scholarship dominated by the Western perspectives or a few international organizations, this case study shows the important role of the state in initiating a space for women to empower themselves on themselves. Ultimately, this emphasizes the contextual dependency of empowerment. The purpose of these three essays is to raise context as a way to understand the impact of education, stressing the diversity and dependency of contexts.

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This thesis examines the perceptions of poverty and own-poverty held by people living in poor communities, and uses these to understand their realities as evident in the risks they face and the livelihood strategies they carry out. It engages with the debate on relationships between perceived poverty and objective indicators which dominate the poverty discourse. A comparative analysis of rural and urban areas is carried out motivated by literature findings on differences in perceptions between these areas. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected during seven months of fieldwork (2006) in relatively poor areas of Lagos state, South-West Nigeria. Perceptions of poverty in a highly populated and commercial area such as Lagos were found to be consistent with the factors that have informed traditional approaches to poverty. However, the identification of the poor based on perceptions of own-poverty differed remarkably from that based on locally identified indicators of poverty, and relative deprivation was found to be a key explanation. In using the perceptions of poverty and own-poverty to further understand the realities of poverty as understood by the poor, risks and livelihoods are also examined. The poor are faced with risks which they have limited capacities to insure themselves against and health risks featured prominently as the most anticipated and realised risk. Informal risk-sharing was the main risk-response used, however its capacity to cope is limited. Livelihood diversification is also a response to risks and in analysing this further (with a focus on the rural poor), a diversification spectrum made up of three categories: the least, mid and highly diversified, was constructed. The majority of those who perceived themselves as poor were in the middle of the spectrum and were engaged in a non-farm activity, suggesting that diversification into non-farm activities was not necessarily the preferred option in their perspective.