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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120383
Description
Title
Three essays on labor economics
Author(s)
Arbelaez Parra, Mateo
Issue Date
2023-04-19
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Bartik, Alexander
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Bartik, Alexander
Committee Member(s)
Kleemans, Marieke
Akresh, Richard
Lemus, Jorge
Department of Study
Economics
Discipline
Economics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Shocks
Abstract
I analyze how phenomena that affect the labor market change the behavior of families in three different countries. First, I study the decision regarding labor market participation for adults and children in Mexico. Second, I study the decision regarding the sector in which individuals work (agriculture/informality/formality) in Indonesia. Lastly, I study the location where individuals choose to live given a set of natural amenities and wages in the United States.
In chapter one, I study how international corn prices affect the labor market of children in rural Mexico. I compare what happens with the labor supply of children of locations that are more suitable to grow corn with those that are not. I show that when corn prices go up children's and adults' wages increase with an elasticity of 0.079 and 0.127. I also show that adults work more hours per week when corn prices increase. However, children do not change their work behavior or their school enrollment when prices increase. These results are robust to specifications with different functional forms as well as different measurements of corn suitability. There are no heterogeneous effects by sex or age or by quarter of the year.
In chapter two, I study the relationship between agglomeration and labor markets in Indonesia. I use total urban population of each district as a measurement of agglomeration and I study its effects on two outcome variables: the first one is the sector in which individuals choose to work which can be agriculture, informal or formal jobs; the second one is the wage of these individuals. My results show that as agglomeration increases is more likely that a worker is formal and informal and that the elasticity of urban population with respect wages is larger for formal workers than informal, and that the elasticity of informal is larger than the one of agricultural workers. I also provide evidence that suggests my results are not explained by reverse causality, individual selection, or district level omitted variables.
In chapter three, I estimate people's preferences over natural amenities. First, I estimate the average utility households perceive from living in each MSA. Then, I see how this utility is explained by natural amenities, wages, and rents. To deal with the endogenous nature of wages and rents, I use an instrumental variables approach. My instruments are a Bartik-like instrument, that approximates exogenous shocks of productivity, and the Wharton Residential Land Use Regulation Index, that approximates local housing supply elasticities. My results show that households are willing to pay between 640 and 820 dollars a year to live in a place with better amenities.
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