Essays in applied microeconomics

Pereira Goncalves de Mello, Euler

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Description

Title

Essays in applied microeconomics

Author(s)

Pereira Goncalves de Mello, Euler

Issue Date

2013-02-03T19:35:36Z

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

Lubotsky, Darren H.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Lubotsky, Darren H.

Committee Member(s)

• Arends-Kuenning, Mary P.
• Baer, Werner W.
• Powers, Elizabeth T.

Department of Study

Economics

Discipline

Economics

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Policy evaluation
• Decomposition
• Brazil
• Maternity leave
• Housework

Abstract

This dissertation is composed of two parts. In the first, I study a recent extension of the maternity leave mandate for public sector employees. In the second, I focus on the gender differential in housework hours and its evolution in the 2001-2009 period. For the maternity leave part, identification relies on geographical and temporal variation of the extensions. Data are drawn from the Annual Report on Social Information (RAIS) and from the National Household Sample and from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD). There is some evidence of a modest, though statistically insignificant effect on wages. This evidence is in tune with the international literature and lies within reasonable bounds given by the expected increase in the employees' costs. For fertility, the results are also similar to the literature, suggesting an increase. Nonetheless, those estimates are not statistically significant. There is also some evidence of an increase in the attraction of the public sector. In summary, results suggest that the extension did not have significant effects on important labor market outcomes, such as wages. This might be indicative that the distortions generated by the extension were not relevant. The focus of the second part is on the gender differential in housework hours in Brazil and its evolution. Data from 2001 and 2009 are drawn from the National Household Sample Survey, which is representative of the Brazilian households. Results highlight that women decreased their amount of housework in that period. Cohabiting or married men increased slightly their amount of housework, whereas single men decreased their amount of housework. According to the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, the observable characteristics explain very little of the gap in each year. Nonetheless, a substantial part of the change in the gap can be attributed to changes in observable characteristics, mainly changes in the levels of economic power, cohort and cohort-education interaction.

Graduation Semester

2012-12

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Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 Euler Pereira Goncalves de Mello

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