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Datta, Atreyee Rupa |
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Composition Effects in Labor Markets and Families: Two Essays Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Chicago, 2001. DAI, 62, no. 02A (2001): 784 Cohort(s): NLSY97 Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning Keyword(s): Census of Population; Educational Attainment; Family Studies; Fathers, Presence; High School Diploma; Labor Market Demographics; Labor Market Outcomes; Poverty; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Tests and Testing; Welfare This dissertation comprises two essays. The first essay investigates the effects of improved local educational attainment on the labor market outcomes of less-educated workers. A simple model of a local labor market production function formalizes the hypothesis that more-educated workers improve the productivity of less-educated workers through on-the-job training and other informal interactions. Instrumental variables estimates using 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census data for 288 Metropolitan Statistical Areas indicate that adults without high school diplomas experience declines in labor market outcomes in response to an exogenous increase in the local supply of college-graduate labor. Male workers suffer both wage and hours deterioration, while women maintain earnings levels by compensating for lower wages through increased employment. The findings suggest that policies that target local educational attainment to achieve economic growth may hurt less-educated workers, increasing rather than abating poverty, welfare needs, and other related social phenomena. The second essay asks whether the effect of father presence varies by maternal age in two adolescent outcomes, math achievement scores and early cigarette smoking. The increased incidence of first births among women age 30 or over suggests study of this population as researchers have investigated births to younger women. Positive effects of father presence are found for a range of child and adolescent outcomes among children at all birth timings, but theories of parenting and empirical differences in older and younger mothers suggest that the father presence effect may vary by maternal age. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort, I find that the effect of father presence increases with maternal age for both math achievement and deferred smoking. The change is attributable to observable parental characteristics that are correlated with maternal age rather than a pure effect of maternal age. |
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Bibliography Citation
Datta, Atreyee Rupa. Composition Effects in Labor Markets and Families: Two Essays. Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Chicago, 2001. DAI, 62, no. 02A (2001): 784. |