Three Essays on the Evaluation of Public Policy Programs

This dissertation consists of three chapters, each evaluating a different public policy. The first chapter studies the effect of internet on music sales. Internet usage has increased dramatically over the past few years. Concurrently, the sales from music CDs have witnessed a huge decline. I analyze the effect of downloading music on the current downturn in CD sales by looking at the progressive disappearance of the traditional stores. To identify the causal impact of downloading and control for endogeneity, I instrument state internet penetration rates by information on the adoption of Video Franchise Law (VFL). Results indicates that implementation of VFL increases internet access in states which adopt it, and explains 58.7 percent of total store closings in those states.The second chapter analyzes whether enactment of the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) differentially affected states that previously implemented maternity leave laws at the state level than those states which did not. Additionally, we study whether FMLA caused an increase in female employment and labor force participation in those states that expanded its benefits and relaxed the eligibility criteria. Finally, we analyze the Paid Family Leave program in California, comparing how the change in female employment differs from those states which have FMLA alone and those which have complemented the benefits of FMLA. Our results confirm the positive and significant effect of FMLA on female employment and also a significantly positive impact on female employment for some states when they complement the benefits and eligibility criteria of FMLA.The third chapter analyses labor market impacts of the implementation of all the state and local governments' EITC supplement. We examine whether the substantial expansions in the EITC program created by these supplements are an effective means of providing work incentives. Exploiting variation in the policy over time both across states and within states between different demographic groups, we find the EITC supplements have raised labor supply among single women, but had no effect on the labor supply of married women. Our results indicate the state and local governments' EITC expansions to be less effective compared to the federal EITC expansions.