This thesis looks at the effects of flexible working arrangements on workers' labour market outcomes. The particular type of flexible working arrangement analysed in this thesis is called "flexitime". This is an arrangement which gives workers the freedom to choose when to start and end their work. Flexitime provides workers with a new way to cater to their domestic responsibilities and in turn may reduce the costs of participating in the labour market. Therefore, it is closely connected with workers' compensation structure, human capital accumulation process, labour supply and job mobility. The effects of flexitime on workers' labour market outcomes are analysed from three aspects: wage, labour supply, and job mobility. The first chapter gives an introduction and overview of the thesis. The second chapter is a study on the compensating wage differentials associated with flexitime. In general I do not find convincing evidence showing the existence of compensating wage differentials associated with flexitime. One possible reason might be that flexitime brings additional benefits to firms (such as increased productivity and reduced turnover rate) so that firms may not necessarily need to reduce actual wages in exchange for flexitime provision. In the third chapter, I develop a model describing how flexitime may affect workers' labour supply decisions. The main finding of the model is that flexitime will increase workers' labour supply when the benefit associated with flexitime (increased child care production efficiency) is high relative to the cost of wage reduction (prediction 1). Meanwhile, the model also predicts that flexitime causes high human capital workers to increase their labour supply more than low human capital workers (prediction 2). Empirical findings show that flexitime is positively associated with working mothers' labour market hours, which confirms model prediction 1. However, there is arguably insufficient empirical evidence verifying model prediction 2. The fourth chapter considers the relationship between flexitime and workers' job satisfaction and job mobility. Flexitime is associated with high job satisfaction levels for both male and female workers. It also reduces the probability of quitting for female workers with young children. Male workers' job mobility decisions are not significantly affected by flexitime. The fifth chapter gives the conclusion of the thesis.

With the move to a more market-oriented economy in China, there is evidence of increased inequality in the incomes earned by men and women. To explore this outcome, we turn to an aspect of Chinese society that is pervasive in both economic and social contexts, namely, the Chinese variant of social capital, guanxi. It appears that in an imperfect labour market characterised by frictions, such as restricted mobility, costly job search, and limited employment alternatives, the cultivation of guanxi is important in reducing these transaction costs. The notion that investing in social capital can enhance an individual's opportunities leads to the development of a theory of discrimination that may explain the gender inequalities accompanying marketisation in China, and might be more generally relevant. The model of earnings discrimination is premised on imperfect product and labour markets. Under these conditions, we show that differential wages for similarly productive workers is a profit maximising outcome for firms. We apply this theory in an attempt to explain the trend of increasing gender inequality in earned income in urban China during the current reform period. First, pre-labour market gender inequality is investigated through developing a model of parental investment in children's human capital to discern whether there are productive differences between men and women prior to entering employment. In 1995, household expenditure on children's education is affected by perceived future earnings differentials and support of parents in retirement. Regarding labour markets, an original survey designed to test our model of social capital was administered in urban China in early 2000 and pertained to 1999. We find that there are differences between men and women in their investment in guanxi that correspond to gender inequalities in earned income and rates of re-employment. Both empirical chapters provide evidence in accordance with the predictions of the theory.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-139).

Thesis (M.C.A.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 174-177).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Victoria, 1990. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-109).

Thesis (Ph.D. Economics)--University of Waikato, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-213) Also available via the World Wide Web.

The work analyzes the development and salary differentiation in the Czech Republic and focuses on the wage differentials between men and women. It evaluates the impact of factors, which may influence salary, like age, education, work classification (KZAM) and region, where an employer works. Women labour market condition goes before the own analysis.

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This dissertation includes three chapters. The first and second chapters are related to economics of immigration, and the last one is about environmental economics. The first chapter studies people who work and live in the US on work visas such as H-1B, and compares them to natives. In this chapter I examine whether or not there exists any wage premium for or against college graduate immigrants who are on work visa compared to college graduate natives. I also check for any change of such a premium from 2003 to 2010. On the contrary to the common belief that foreign workers are cheap labor force, my results show that skilled immigrants holding temporary work visas on average have a significant wage premium over natives, and this premium has even increased significantly from 2003 to 2010 (from 14% to 22%). My results show that such a wage premium is different for men, women, and countries of origin, but I found no evidence supporting different premiums across different fields of study. The second chapter of this dissertation studies the dynamics of the earnings gap between those immigrants and US-born individuals with bachelor's degrees or higher in science and engineering fields. The research question is that in case a gap exists for or against immigrants, how is it changing with the amount of time immigrants reside in the United States? I employ cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches to answer this question, and study the earnings gap between three groups of immigrants (based on the current residency status) and natives at entry and over time. I also compare natives with immigrants who migrated to the United States on different types of visas (permanent residence visa, work visa, study visa, and dependent visa). Results show that, upon arrival, immigrants on average have a considerable premium over the US-born, and this gap, surprisingly, even gets bigger with an approximate rate of 0.25% for the first 5-10 years of immigrants' residence in the US. This phenomenon could be due to the higher level of abilities and motivation among immigrants compared to natives. Another reason can be the selectivity among immigrants, meaning that more successful stays and others return. Unfortunately, due to the lack of information in data regarding these issues, they could not be controlled for in my models. The last chapter is about environmental economics. This chapter exploits a daily time series data on pollen count and PM2:5 level from 2009 to 2015 to study the separate impacts of PM2:5 and pollen on the number of total, in-patient, and out-patient respiratory hospital admissions within different age groups in the Reno/Sparks metropolitan area in Northern Nevada. The results show that although PM2:5 has a positive impact on the number of out- patient admissions in most of the age groups, there is no evidence that shows any relationship between the pollen count and the number of in-patient or out-patient respiratory admissions. / Ph. D. / This dissertation includes three chapters. The first and second chapters are related to immigration and its economic consequences, and the last one is about an environmental issue. My first chapter studies educated people who work and live in the US on work visas such as H-1B and compares them to educated US-born individuals. Any change of such a wage difference from 2003 to 2010 is also studied. On the contrary to the common belief that foreign workers are a cheap labor force, I find that skilled educated immigrants holding temporary work visas on average have higher salaries compared to natives and this wage gap in favor of immigrants has even increased from 2003 to 2010 (from 14% to 22%). This wage difference between natives and immigrants is different among men and women and also by immigrants’ country of origin. However, I find no evidence which shows wage differences across different fields of study. The second chapter is about finding the wage difference between US-born individuals and immigrants with college degrees in science and engineering fields of study at the time of their entry to the US, and more importantly studying the changes of this wage gap with more time immigrants reside in the United States. For this purpose, immigrants are grouped based on their current residency status. I also compare natives with immigrants who migrated to the United States on different types of visas (permanent residence visa, work visa, study visa, and dependent visa). Results show that, upon arrival, immigrants make more than the US-born, and this gap even gets bigger with an approximate rate of 0.25% for the first 5-10 years of immigrants’ residence in the US. This could be because of the higher level of abilities and motivation among immigrants compared to natives. Another reason can be that more successful immigrants stay and others go back home or migrate to another country. Unfortunately, my data does not provide me with information regarding either one of these issues. The last chapter is about environmental economics. In this chapter I use daily data on pollen (a type of allergen released in the air by plants) and PM_2.5 (an air pollution factor mainly caused by wildfires) from 2009 to 2015 and study the impacts of PM_2.5 level and pollen count on the number of respiratory related hospital admissions in the Reno/Sparks metropolitan area in Northern Nevada. I find that an increase in PM_2.5 leads to a bigger number of out-patient hospital admissions in most of the age groups. However, no evidence was found which shows any relationship between the pollen count and the number of in-patient or out-patient hospital admissions.