This dissertation considers incentives arising from equilibrium influences that affect the sequence of decisions that lead to family formation. The first chapter examines how state regulations directly aimed at abortion providers affect the market for abortion in the United States. Estimates...

Utilizando nacimientos múltiples como variable instrumental (IV) para el tamaño de la familia y datos para 43 países en vías de desarrollo, se encuentra evidencia de que un incremento en el número de niños tiene un costo para toda familia en su conjunto. Las madres son más propensas a...

Wage inequality is a particular focus of attention not only in public debates over the need for social regulation to support equity, but those over the implications of social regulation for productive performance. The present paper employs panel techniques to examine the comparative historical...

In this paper we focus on education as a private decision to invest in ‘human capital’ and the estimation of the rate of return to that private investment. While the literature is replete with studies that estimate the rate of return using regression methods where the estimated return is...

The role of skilled labor in the modern economy and its importance in explaining trends in wage inequality and productivity has been a focus of a broad strand of research in economics. Labor is an input into production that is very different from capital or materials. One key difference is that...

This dissertation consists of two essays. In the first essay I show that there are substantial differences in unemployment durations and reemployment outcomes for workers coming from different occupations. I argue that this variation can be explained by differences in occupational employment...

Doctor of Philosophy

En este documento se analiza la forma en que la educación académica y la experiencia profesional correlacionan con el nivel de capital humano, medido por la capacidad cognitiva demostrada en diferentes exámenes numéricos y de comprensión lectora según los datos de la OCDE obtenidos para el...

This dissertation examines skilled immigration in the context of labor and health economics. The research focuses on the high-skilled labor market, whereas previous studies either treat all immigrants as a homogeneous group or focus on the low-skilled. The first essay investigates the wage...