Although several studies have sought to identify the determinants of export diversity and sophistication, few have examined the role of historical events in shaping or reshaping them. In my first chapter I use data on CIA interventions during the Cold War period. I show that such interventions had a negative impact on the range of goods exported by affected countries. I provide evidence that this effect persisted in the long run. In my second chapter, I study the local impact of trade union strength on employment during resource booms. I use unionization and coverage rates along with the presence of state level right to work laws as proxies for weak unions. The empirical strategy limits the sample to resource abundant US counties that share a border across states and utilizes county pair-year fixed effects to compare average responses to oil booms in resource rich counties located in states with weak unions to responses in adjacent resource rich counties in states with relatively strong unions. Results suggest that within a relatively small geographic radius, union strength does not seem to have an impact on the response of employment to booms. There is some evidence to suggest that the results point to the existence of spillover effects where employment in weak union locations is influenced by proximity to strong unions. In my final chapter I exploit variation in resource wealth between English speaking Caribbean nations who take identical exams at the secondary school level. I test the hypothesis that booms alter the incentive for academic excellence in secondary school students. To isolate the impact changing incentives have on academic performance, I control for education expenditure and other demand and supply side factors. Results suggest that booms improve performance mainly for female students.

Cette thèse se propose d'analyser les effets des ruptures dans les trajectoires professionnelles sur l'état de santé des individus en Europe. Nous considérons ici deux ruptures : l'une en début de carrière -- l'entrée sur le marché du travail dans une économie dégradée -- et l'autre en fin de carrière -- le passage à la retraite. Entre ces deux périodes critiques, nous portons un intérêt spécifique à l'impact sur la santé d'une rupture cette fois anticipée : la peur de perdre son emploi. Nos analyses empiriques combinent des données d'enquêtes Européennes et Britanniques. Afin de pallier les problèmes d'endogénéité propres à toute analyse empirique du lien entre santé et trajectoire professionnelle, nous exerçons des chocs exogènes sur la carrière des individus. Nous utilisons ainsi une expérience naturelle (la crise pétrolière de 1973) et les caractéristiques institutionnelles telles qu’elles sont définies dans la législation de chaque pays Européen (âges légaux de passage à la retraite, degrés de protection de l’emploi, règles de scolarité obligatoire). Les résultats soulignent l'effet néfaste des ruptures au cours de la vie professionnelle sur la santé des individus, à la fois à court et à long terme.Notre projet se propose d’identifier un lien causal entre l'activité professionnelle des individus et leur catégorie d'obésité via l’utilisation de techniques économétriques spécifiques tenant compte de l'endogénéité et l'utilisation des données de la cohorte GAZEL (qui suit depuis 1989 20 000 volontaires employés chez EDF-GDF). / The main objective of this thesis is to analyse the health consequences of career shocks in Europe. It considers two actual career shocks over the lifecourse: leaving full-time education in a bad economy, and, at the other end of the age spectrum, retiring. In-between these two critical periods, it investigates how an anticipated career shock -- i.e. anticipated job loss -- damages health. Empirical analyses are conducted using large European and British surveys. We use institutional features and natural experiments to find neat instruments for causal identification~: the existence of compulsory schooling laws, the cross-country variation in employment protection legislations, the cross-country variation in retirement systems and the 1973 oil crisis. The results emphasise the causal and health-damaging impact of career shocks, both in the short and in the long-term.

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