archives@tulane.edu / People living through changes in their surroundings react to it unexpectedly. Exogenous political, economic and legal changes impact individual behavior in an unpredictable manner. This dissertation uses three papers to give evidence of exogenous shocks affecting individual behavior. First, I study the impact of an economic change. Using business cycle indicators, I show that a change in the employment status of parents causes them to invest higher time with their children instead of exploring new job opportunities in the early months of unemployment. The short term impact of unemployment is favorable for child development even though literature has shown that long term unemployment is detrimental to child well-being. Second, I explore the impact of a spillover of a policy intended to save energy. The Daylight Savings Time was implemented during the World Wars to conserve energy. Over the decades, its impact on energy conservation has diminished. My research shows that there are clear evidences of serious disruption in daily lives of those subjected to the clock change twice a year, causing higher stress and lower sleep in the early weeks of the time change. Third, I study the legalization of medical marijuana on consumption of marijuana and alcohol patterns, as well as criminal behavior among those subjected to it. The results show that even though there is a slight increase in marijuana and alcohol consumption among adults, there is no evidence to support that it encourages teenagers to explore marijuana consumption. There is also no evidence of any change in criminal behavior. / 1 / Sanjukta Basu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_121678 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Contributors | Basu, Sanjukta (author), (author), Sheffrin, Steven M. (Thesis advisor), Pritchett, Jonathan (Thesis advisor), Long, Wei (Thesis advisor), School of Liberal Arts Economics (Degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | electronic, pages: 143 |
| Rights | No embargo, Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law. |
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