Three essays in labor and development economics

Yang, Yuhao

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115542 Copy

Description

Title

Three essays in labor and development economics

Author(s)

Yang, Yuhao

Issue Date

2022-04-14

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Marx, Benjamin

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

• Marx, Benjamin
• Borgschulte, Mark

Committee Member(s)

• Kleemans, Marieke
• Powers, Elizabeth

Department of Study

Economics

Discipline

Economics

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Payment to Ecosystem Services
• Gender Norm

Abstract

This study consists of chapters that focus on three topics in labor and development economics. The first chapter was co-authored with Xinze Li, where we studied the long-run effects of a payment to ecosystem services program in China on household and village outcomes. The second chapter was co-authored with Mark Borgschulte, in which we documented a “younger-wife-older-husband” gender norm in the marriage market. Additionally, we empirically estimated the existence of norms on schooling, income, labor market outcomes, and fertility of wife and husband. In the third chapter, I investigated the effects of college openings on local violent and property crimes in the short- and long-run. In chapter one, we evaluate the effects of a payment to ecosystem services program, the “Grain-for-Green” in China, on household income, and allocation of labor and agricultural inputs in the long run. Our empirical strategy of using Difference-in Differences suggests that enrolled and nonenrolled households were comparable before the program. We find that households reallocate labor to non-agricultural employment and increase agricultural inputs as they enroll in the program. However, there is no evidence that these programs increase household income or total crop production. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that household income level is a significant determinant of adaptation strategies in response to cropland loss. In chapter two, we provide evidence of an “older husband-younger wife” social norm in the marriage market. We use a regression kink estimator to describe the distribution of relative marital ages that arises as a consequence of the norm. Three main sets of results emerge. First, we document that the norm appears to varying degrees in new marriages throughout the lifecycle in the United States. Second, in households that violate the norm, we show wives are relatively more educated and work more hours than their husbands. As a consequence, the gender gap in total personal income is $3700 smaller in households where the wife is one year older than her husband, compared to households with equal ages or a slightly older husband. Third, we examine this norm in four representative countries across the continents and in historical data of the United States. The norm appears to varying degrees in these settings but is largest in the present-day U.S. In chapter three, I utilize nationwide variations in college construction to determine whether the opening of a college reduces local violent and property crimes. To address the endogeneity of college location, I employed event study, difference-in-difference, and instrumental variable strategies. The difference-in-difference estimates indicate that opening a new college in the metropolitan commuting zone may reduce violent crime by six percent and property crime by 10% in the short run. In the long run, college openings will likely account for a 3.6% reduction in violent crime and a 0.9% reduction in property crime in the non-metropolitan commuting zone. The improved local socioeconomic conditions likely explain the decline in property crime, whereas the decline in violent crime is attributable to an intergenerational channel. This study complements existing literature by providing the first evidence of the effects of college openings on local crime and the mechanisms behind these effects.

Graduation Semester

2022-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Yuhao Yang

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