Könsskillnaderna inom utbildning- och arbetsmarknaden har konsekvenser för såväl individer som samhället i stort. Gymnasievalet är den tidigaste platsen där könssegregeringen mellan killar och tjejer kan uppstå. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur den senaste politiska reformen, Gy2011, har påverkat könsskillnaderna inom den svenska gymnasieskolan. Studien använder sig av paneldata över 20 gymnasieprogram och 16 elevkullar, som avgick mellan åren 2005/06-2020/21. Genom en difference-in-difference mäts könsskillnaderna med hjälp av ett segregationsindex. De viktigaste resultaten visar att segregationsindexet för den totala gymnasieskolan uppvisar en relativt svag effekt till följd av att undergrupper har påverkats i olika riktningar. Yrkesprogrammen, introduktionsprogrammet och STEM-utbildningarna blev mer könssegregerade medan de högskoleförberedande programmen och HEED-utbildningarna blev mer könsintegrerade. Studien tyder på att tjejer påverkats mest av reformen till följd av de stereotypiska karaktärsdrag som förväntas av en tjej; skolintresserad, bred kompetens och ansvarstagande. / The gender differences in the education and labor market have consequences for both individuals and society at large. The high school choice is the earliest place where gender segregation between boys and girls can arise. The purpose of this essay is to investigate how the latest political reform, GY2011, has affected the gender differences in the Swedish upper secondary school. The study uses panel data with 20 high school programs and 16 cohorts that graduated between 2005/06-2020/21. By using Difference-in-Difference, the gender differences are measured through a segregation index. The main results show that the segregation index for the total upper secondary school shows a relatively weak effect as a result of subgroups being affected in different directions. The vocational programs, the introductory program and the STEM programs became more gender segregated, while the university preparatory programs and HEED programs became more gender integrated. The study indicates that girls were most affected by the reform as a result of the stereotypical traits expected of a girl; School-interested, broad competence and to be responsible.

This dissertation continues the tradition of identifying the unintended consequences of the US health insurance system. Its main contribution is to estimate the size of the distortions caused by the employer-based system and regulations intended to fix it, while using methods that are more novel and appropriate than those of previous work. Chapter 1 examines the effect of state-level health insurance mandates, which are regulations intended to expand access to health insurance. It finds that these regulations have the unintended consequence of increasing insurance premiums, and that these regulations have been responsible for 9-23% of premium increases since 1996. The main contribution of the chapter is that its results are more general than previous work, since it considers many more years of data, and it studies the employer-based plans that cover most Americans rather than the much less common individual plans. Whereas Chapter 1 estimates the effect of the average mandate on premiums, Chapter 2 focuses on a specific mandate, one that requires insurers to cover prostate cancer screenings. The focus on a single mandate allows a broader and more careful analysis that demonstrates how health policies spill over to affect the labor market. I find that the mandate has a significant negative effect on the labor market outcomes of the very group it was intended to help. The mandate expands the treatments health insurance covers for men over age 50, but by doing so it makes them more expensive to insure and employ. Employers respond to this added expense by lowering wages and hiring fewer men over age 50. According to the theoretical model put forward in the chapter, this suggests the mandate reduces total welfare. Chapter 3 shows that the employer-based health insurance system has deterred entrepreneurship. It takes advantage of the natural experiment provided by the Affordable Care Act's dependent coverage mandate, which de-linked insurance from employment for many 19-25 year olds. Difference-in-difference estimates show that the mandate increased self-employment among the treated group by 13-24%. Instrumental variables estimates show that those who actually received parental health insurance as a result of the mandate were drastically more likely to start their own business. This suggest that concerns over health insurance are a major barrier to entrepreneurship in the United States. / Economics

In this thesis, the impact of conservation banking on biodiversity is assessed by examining the bird species richness in U.S. counties that have implemented the policy. Conservation banking is a market-based instrument designed for developers who need to comply with the Endangered Species Act for the negative environmental impacts that their projects have made. Conservation banking aims to “protect and recover imperilled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend” (USFWS 2013, p. 1). In this thesis, a staggered difference-in-difference with differential timing by Goodman-Bacon (2018) and further developed by Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021) is used to estimate the effect of conservation banks on biodiversity. Data for biodiversity, bird species richness are collected from U.S. Geological Survey's data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). Information on conservation banks is gathered from the Regulatory In-lieu fee and Bank Information Tracking System (RIBITS). This thesis focuses on 107 conservation banks in 53 counties in the U.S. established between 2005 and 2016. The main results from this study indicate a positive impact of the introduction of conservation banks, with an increase in biodiversity of 4,1%. Consequently, this confirms the positive effect of the policy intervention. Despite these results, it is vital to consider caution regarding this market-based instrument. Market-based instruments that commodify elements of nature into the market are a new frontier in capitalist expansion. This approach may exclude areas from the natural evolutionary selection process, leading to potential long-term ecological imbalances. Current payment structures in conservation banking can lead to misallocation of taxpayers’ money at the same time as biodiversity outcomes are not optimized. Therefore, the most fundamental recommendation for this policy is to change to outcome-based payments.

In the past 15 years Sweden has seen a tremendous increase in the number of Thai massage parlors distributed across the country. With an estimated 80 % of the parlors providing sex trade with low risks of legal penalties the expansion highlights a growing social issue. The implementation of the Sex Purchase Act in 1999 made Sweden pioneers within the regulation of sex trade, legally altering consumers of sex purchases to perpetrators and suppliers to victims. The evident issue of sex trade in the current expanding number of parlors heighten the relevance of an ongoing debate regarding the effectiveness and unintended repercussions of the regulatory framework. Contributing to the debate, literature in recent years have shed light on a substitution effect between sex trade and other sex crimes (i.e. rape). No study has yet to investigate the parlors casual contribution to the ongoing illegal sex trade and its effects on other sex crimes. This paper aims to estimate the expanding number of Thai massage parlors’ impact on reported rates of sex purchases and other sex crimes. By the use of a difference-in-difference event study, with a rollout design, the paper reveals a statistically significant increase in rates of sex purchases the years following the implementation of a Thai massage parlor. Investigating the impact of the parlors’ establishment, on a number of sex crimes, a statistically significant decrease in the rates of rape is found. The results indicate that the services offered in the parlors provide the perpetrators with the same utility as that of rape.

This dissertation contributes to the disaster resilience policy literature by examining the diffusion of hazard mitigation policy in the U.S. Using the three-paper model, it investigates the adoption of local hazard mitigation plans (LHMPs) from an intergovernmental perspective. The first paper focuses on horizontal diffusion in hazard mitigation planning among local communities. Special attention is paid to the potential factors affecting the adoption of FEMA-approved LHMPs, Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) projects and Pre-Disaster Program (PDM) projects at the county level. The Event History Analysis (EHA) Logit Model and Spatial Autocorrelation Models test the hypotheses corresponding to external factors such as the neighboring effects and internal factors, including disaster risks, neighborhood disadvantage and affluence, government capacity, local disaster resilience advocacy groups, and political support. The empirical results confirmed the significant influence of neighboring effects, indicating that counties are more likely to implement the same mitigation strategies if neighboring counties have done so. The results also revealed that disaster experience, government capacity, and strong democratic support significantly impact the likelihood of adopting LHMP and HMGP. Additionally, the results suggested that disadvantaged communities were more likely to adopt mitigation policies, while affluent communities were less likely to adopt such policies. The second paper evaluates the effectiveness of the FEMA's Program Administration by State Pilot (PAS). By integrating the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique with the Difference-in-Differences (DID) analysis, the empirical evidence demonstrated a significant reduction in the approval times for both LHMP and HMGP in pilot states compared to non-pilot states, with an average reduction nearing 30%. This suggests that the PAS program has effectively streamlined administrative processes, thereby enhancing efficiency in disaster management within pilot states. The analysis also indicated that the impact of PAS on the actual funding received through HMGP was insignificant, suggesting that while administrative processes were expedited, the allocation of financial resources remained unaffected. The third paper attempts to understand how local governments respond to top-down policy pressures in vertical diffusion by analyzing the text similarities of hazard mitigation strategies between state hazard mitigation plans and county LHMPs in Ohio using the word embedding technologies. The study employs the Word2Vec algorithm to assess the policy similarity between the hazard mitigation goals outlined in LHMPs and SHMPs. Building on this initial analysis, this research further uses the Beta Regression model to examine the textual similarities within LHMPs in Ohio, focusing on how the type of author - government versus private consultants, and the nature of the goals, whether action-based or hazard-based, affect these alignments. The regression analysis shows that LHMPs authored by government entities tend to exhibit higher textual similarity, reflecting the influence of standardized approaches driven by state and federal guidelines. This suggests a compliance-driven alignment in government-written plans. Conversely, LHMPs authored by private consultants display greater variability, suggesting that these plans are customized to the specific needs and risk assessments of local communities. Additionally, the regression results indicate that action-based and mixed-goal LHMPs are associated with higher textual similarity across counties. To carry out the empirical analysis mentioned above, this dissertation builds a panel dataset for all counties from 2000 to 2020, which contains data on LHMPs, HMA projects, disaster risks, socioeconomic characteristics, regional economic and political indicators, etc. / Doctor of Philosophy / Hazard mitigation in the United States is a critical issue, especially as the frequency and cost of disasters continue to rise. This dissertation investigates the dynamics of hazard mitigation planning within a multi-level governmental framework, focusing on the adoption of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved Local Hazard Mitigation Plans (LHMPs), Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) projects, and Pre-Disaster Program (PDM) projects. across U.S. counties and the influence of federal and state policies on these local initiatives. The first paper examines the horizontal diffusion of LHMPs among local communities, revealing the significant influence of neighboring counties. This "neighboring effect" shows that counties are more likely to adopt similar mitigation strategies if their neighbors have done so, emphasizing the role of regional collaboration in spreading effective disaster resilience practices. Additionally, the study found that counties with more disaster experience and greater governmental capacity are more likely to implement LHMPs, highlighting the importance of preparedness and resources in driving policy adoption. Furthermore, this research finds counties with higher socioeconomic disadvantages are more proactive in adopting mitigation policies, which could be attributed to the higher perceived risks and available federal funding targeted at these communities. The second paper evaluates the impact of FEMA's Program Administration by State (PAS) pilot program on the administrative efficiency of LHMP and HMGP approvals. The findings indicate a significant reduction in approval times in pilot states, suggesting that the PAS program has successfully streamlined administrative processes. However, this expedited process did not lead to increased funding or broader adoption, pointing to the need for further policy enhancements to ensure that administrative improvements translate into real-world benefits for disaster preparedness. The third paper explores the vertical diffusion of policy from state to local governments, using Ohio as a case study. It employs advanced text analysis to measure the similarity between state and local hazard mitigation plans. The results show that government-authored LHMPs tend to closely follow state guidelines, indicating a top-down influence that ensures compliance with federal and state objectives. In contrast, LHMPs authored by private consultants were more varied and aligned to the specific needs and risks of local communities. This suggests that a balance is needed between standardized policies and local customization to effectively address the unique challenges of different regions. By integrating these findings, this dissertation provides a comprehensive overview of how hazard mitigation policies are adopted and implemented across various governmental levels. The research concludes with policy recommendations that advocate for sustained reforms in hazard mitigation funding, emphasizing the need for equitable resource distribution among disadvantaged communities. It also offers critical insights into improving intergovernmental cooperation and policy effectiveness, ensuring that all communities, regardless of their socio-economic status, can enhance their resilience and better prepare for future disasters. This research ultimately serves as a guide for policymakers to refine strategies that foster robust, community-centered resilience practices, enhancing the nation's overall disaster preparedness and response capabilities.

金融海嘯發生後，全球經濟在衍生性商品包裝下應聲受挫，反映過去主要國家中央銀行過度強調物價穩定，放任金融創新，對房貸疏於管制；因此當房價崩跌時，銀行的資產品質急遽惡化，銀行業因而嚴重受創，導致金融體系無法正常運作，衝擊實體經濟；失業率攀高，民眾付不出房貸、房屋被法拍，最後陷入金融與經濟不穩定相互影響的惡性循環。 影響房地產的因素眾多，可歸納為：（一）經濟因素，如所得、利率等；（二）社會文化因素，如人口成長率；（三）住宅條件，如交通的便捷性；（四）政治因素政局是否穩定，將影響社會大眾購置不動產的意願；（五）房屋本身特質，如坪數、建材、樓層等；及（六）政府政策因素，如貨幣政策、都市計畫管制，選擇性信用管制等。 由於經濟快速成長與國民所得激增，國內游資充裕物價高漲，帶動台灣房地於民國62至63年、68至69年、76至78年三次景氣循環達到高峰。也因此，民國78年2月28日，央行宣布實施選擇性信用管制，強制金融機構限定土地貸款成數、期限，首開房地產市場受金融管制之先例。 時至98年第2季金融風暴後，由於各國寬鬆貨幣政策陸續發酵，我國遺贈稅率調降至10%，及簽署金融監理合作備忘錄（MOU）、海峽兩岸經濟架構協議（ECFA）等兩岸經貿利多，吸引外資回流，陸資來台投資意願，再加上股市大漲創造的財富效果，推動資金行情加溫，帶動房市價量俱增。 民國99年，全球景氣持續復甦，我國出口及廠商大幅擴張，及全球需求增溫，推升原油等國際原物料行情，房價持續飆漲。央行遂於民國99年6月24日除調升重 貼現率、擔保放款融通利率及短期融通利率，並訂定「中央對金融機構辦理特定地區購屋貸款業務規定」，自6月25日實施，適用地區為新增放款過度集中在台北市及新北市10個縣轄市。 本研究針對本次特定地區信用管制措施，財政部一連串「打炒房」政策效果逐漸彰顯之際，擬藉由央行、金管會銀行局統計報表，分析銀行授信策略如放款科目、對象別及其他授信結構的差異、專家學者論述所集結論證研究，進行Difference in Difference方法的應用，探討房貸緊縮下公、民營銀行授信差異，提出適切論證以提供政府政策執行參考。 / The financial tsunami caused by US subprime mortgage crisis devastated the global economy and revealed the overemphasis of major central banks on price stability, overrated financial innovation, and the willful regulation of the mortgage. Hence, the quality of banks’ assets deteriorated rapidly and resulted in the breakdown of the financial system, leaving a long-lasting impact on the real economy. With unemployment rising, house owners lost their ability to sustain the over-priced mortgage. The end results are way too many foreclosed houses initiated a vicious cycle of financial and economic instability. Real estate markets are often affected by many factors which we summarize as follows: (1) Economic factors, such as income, interest rates, etc; (2) Social and cultural factors, such as population growth rate; (3) Housing conditions, such as the convenience of transportation; (4) The political factors, whether the political situation is stable would affect the willingness of communities in purchasing real property; (5) The characteristics of the properties, such as floor numbers, building materials and so on; and (6) The policies of government, such as monetary policy, urban planning control, discretional credit control, and etc. The thesis aims to study Taiwan’s real estate market with the above mentioned factors, in particular with focus on the effects of credit controls. The central bank declared the first credit control policy on February 28th, 1989 to regulate financial institutions in the forms of capped land loans and strict due dates. Until the second quarter of financial crisis in 2009 and owing to the quantity easing of many countries worldwide, Taiwan’s central bank again resorted to the tightening credit control policy tools in setting "central to financial institutions to handle specific areas housing loan business requirement" effective from June 25, 2010. Areas included Taipei City, New Taipei City, and other 10 cities in Taiwan were deemed as the housing bubble zones. This study uses data from the Statistical Reports of the central bank and FSC Banking Bureau to analyze the banks’ counter-credit-policy responses, such as lending subjects, objects, and other differences in credit structure. Difference-in-Difference approach is used to explore the differences of credit rationing between state-owned (or state-controlled) banks and private banks. Policy recommendation is provided in Chapter V in reminding the regulators to pay special attention to the non-universal effect of a universal credit control measure.

健保自開辦以來提供產婦十次免費產前檢查，期望透過免費產檢，確保產婦不因經濟因素而無法使用產檢服務。然而，受限於產婦個人年齡、職業及居住地區等影響，產檢利用仍可能存在實質的「健康不均等」。本文透過差異中差異模型（difference-in-differences estimator，DID）檢視城市和鄉村、就業與否、以及不同年齡層間產婦的健康不均等的現象是否隨健保實施而縮小。估計結果顯示健保實行並無顯著改善都市和鄉村、工作與否，或24歲以下產婦的健康不均等，不論是以平均產檢次數、刪除極端值平均次數，或十次以上產檢比例均呈現一致性的結果。另外，由於SARS疫情，2004年分娩孕婦產檢次數皆下降，但下降幅度卻是以居住鄉村、無工作者、和20~24歲年輕孕婦最大，顯示這些社群最容易受外在衝擊的影響。

先前文獻在探討有關三聚氰胺事件時多為分析食安事件之影響因素、政府對於食品安全法規定訂之不足以及探討食安事件對於股價變動之影響。而本研究欲藉由公司財務指的變化來探討食安事件對乳製品產業之影響，因此利用差異中之差異(Difference in Difference, DID)方法，探討在食安事件發生後被爆出有參入三聚氰胺之毒奶粉公司相對於未出問題之奶類公司及豆類公司，其營業收入，營業成本及利潤等三項財務指標為相對上升或相對下降之趨勢。因此將樣本分類為三組，一組以毒奶粉公司作為實驗組，其他兩組以為未出問題奶類公司以及豆類公司作為控制組。 本文以2001年至2011年中國規模以上上市以及非上市公司之追蹤資料(Panel Data)進行分析。實證結果指出，毒奶粉公司相對於未出問題公司在食安事件之後，其營業收入為相對增加，營業成本亦相對增加，而利潤則為相對減少。雖然營業收入之估計結果與預期不相符，但是本研究認為可能與毒奶粉公司在樣本資料當中原先就佔有較高之市場佔有率有關。營業成本之增加，本研究認為與事件發生後法規及監管成本之增加有正向關聯。利潤減少之實證結果與預期相符，說明毒奶粉公司在三聚氰胺事件下，就實證結果而言公司會有虧損之情況發生，代表食安事件對乳製品產業有負面之影響。 / Most of the previous researches of the Melamine Incident focused on analyzing the impact on food safety event, the shortage of the governmental food legislation, and the discussion about the food scandal effect on the enterprises’ stock prices. In this paper, we used the variation of the company’s financial indicator in income statement to observe the impact of the food scandal on the dairy industry. In order to do so, we used the method called “Difference-in-Difference” to estimate the impact on the operating revenues, operating costs and profits of the scandal companies after the food safety scandal broke in 2008. In this study, we set our sample into three groups, the group of the scandal dairy companies as the experimental group, while the group of non-scandal dairy companies and the group of beans companies as the control group. The panel data we used in this paper included listed and unlisted companies in China from 2001 to 2011. The empirical results indicated that after the scandal, in contrast to the non-scandal companies, the operating revenues and the operating costs of the scandal companies were both higher, and the profits were lower. The empirical results of the operating revenues didn't meet the expectation of this paper, we supposed the reason was that the scandal companies had much higher market share comparing to the non-scandal companies. In our opinion, the increase of the operating costs was due to the newly released regulations and supervision costs. At the same time, the decrease of the profits was consistent with our expectation. It meant that after the Melamine incident, the scandal companies would suffered financial losses which proved that the food scandal event would have negative impact on the dairy industry.

企業名稱是企業重要的無形資產，但是在1925年至2000年間名列美國證券市場資料庫的企業中，卻有超過三成的比率在公開上市後曾經更改過企業的名稱，因此本研究基於管理者及投資者的門檻心理，使用實證模型，探討企業更名後，管理者為了吸引投資者的注意，是否較可能去迎合各個盈餘門檻。 本研究以1994~2006年在美國三大證券交易所交易之具更名事件的企業為觀察樣本（實驗組），並依企業規模大小、產業及年度配對出非更名企業（對照組），比較更名企業與非更名企業在門檻心理之下的盈餘管理程度差異，探討企業更名後擊敗或達到盈餘門檻的機率是否大於更名前，研究方法兼採獨立樣本t檢定、綜和橫斷面分配法、分群樣本之羅吉斯多變量迴歸及差異中之差異法。實證結果發現獨立樣本t檢定下，企業更名後會迎合前期盈餘門檻；在綜和橫斷面分配法下則沒有發現迎合盈餘門檻的跡象；多變量迴歸及差異中之差異法則發現企業更名後會迎合前期盈餘門檻及分析師預測盈餘門檻。 / The name is an important intangible asset of the corporate. But over the 1924~2000 period, on the CRSP tapes, over 30% corporates had changed corporate names. Based on the earning thresholds behavior, I examine whether executives would try to meet or beat different earning thresholds in order to attract investors’ attention. In order to investigate the effects of name change, I use the corporates which had changed names over the 1994~2006 period to be the target groups, and then pair comparison groups by the same firm size, industry, and name-changed year. The results indicate that corporates would try to sustain recent performance when using t test. On the other hand, there is no evidence for executives to exceed thresholds under pooled cross-sectional distribution approach. Finally, corporates would sustain recent performance and meet analyst’s expectations when using multivavariate logit regression and difference - in - difference methods.

Submitted by Raquel Erzinian de Camargo Moreira (raquelerzinian@gmail.com) on 2016-02-17T23:23:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FINAL protocolar.pdf: 685484 bytes, checksum: 5811cf47161255b4b29ecc23379559db (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2016-02-18T22:56:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 FINAL protocolar.pdf: 685484 bytes, checksum: 5811cf47161255b4b29ecc23379559db (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-19T10:39:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FINAL protocolar.pdf: 685484 bytes, checksum: 5811cf47161255b4b29ecc23379559db (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-01-29 / A lei dos planos de saúde, elaborada pela ANS, regulamentou o reajuste nos preços dos planos de saúde individuais no Brasil, este estudo busca analisar os efeitos da mesma sobre o consumo de serviços médicos no país. A análise foi elaborada através de modelos probit e mínimos quadrados ordinários, com o método de diferenças em diferenças e utilizando as PNADs 1998 e 2008. A probabilidade de realização de consultas médicas e/ou internações hospitalares foi estimada por probit e o número de consultas e dias de internações no período de um ano através de MQO. O resultado obtido aponta para inalteração do risco moral na demanda pelos serviços médicos, no entanto, outro resultado interessante foi obtido ao analisar os beneficiários de plano de saúde individuais, sua probabilidade de realizar uma consulta médica e/ou ser internado em hospitais foi maior do que os planos de saúde corporativos. / The law of health plans developed by the ANS regulates the readjustment in the price of individual health plans in Brazil, this study seeks to analyze the effects of it on the consumption of medical services in the country. The analysis was estimated through probit models and minimal ordinary squares, with the method of difference in differences and using the PNAD 1998 and 2008. The probability of medical appointment or hospitalizations was estimated by probit and the number of medical appointments and days of hospitalization, within one year, through OLS. The result indicates no changes of moral hazard in demand for medical services, however, another interesting result was obtained by analyzing the individual health plan beneficiaries, their probability to attend to a medical appointment or being at hospital internment was higher than the beneficiaries of corporate health plans.