Growth theory goes a long way toward explaining phenomena in labor economics linked with U.S. economic development. Some examples are: (a) the secular decline in fertility between 1800 and 1980, (b) the decline in agricultural employment and the rise in skill since 1800, (c) the demise of child...

What caused the baby boom? And, can it be explained within the context of the secular decline in fertility that has occurred over the last 200 years? The hypothesis is that: 1. The secular decline in fertility is due to the relentless rise in real wages that increased the opportunity cost of...

In 1900 only six percent of unwed females engaged in premarital sex. Now, three quarters do. The sexual revolution is studied here using an equilibrium matching model, where the costs of premarital sex fall over time due to technological improvement in contraceptives. Individuals differ in their...

Labor market performance varies greatly across countries while, within countries, individuals have very different labor market experiences. The purpose of this dissertation is to document these features and propose a modelling framework that can help us understand the observations. In Chapter...

General equilibrium models are used to explore the interactions between macroeconomics and the two components of population growth: natural increase and net-migration. The first questions at hand are: What caused the baby boom? Can it be explained within the context of the decline in fertility...

Some facts characterizing the U.S. economic development in the 19th century are: (i) the westward movement of population; (ii) the accumulation of productive land; and (iii) the wage gap in favor of the West. An overlapping-generations model is developed, to account for these facts. The model's...

What drove western population growth in the U.S. during the 19th century? The facts are: (i) Natural increase was higher in the West than in the East; and (ii) in the early stages of the settlement process, net migration could account for up to 80% of population growth in some regions. A general...

Electricity was born at the dawn of the last century. Households were inundated with a flood of new consumer durable goods. What was the impact of this consumer durable goods revolution? It is argued here that the consumer goods revolution liberated women from the home. To analyze this...