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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (2 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2017)

This dissertation studies educational attainment and immigrant assimilation using applied econometric methods.

The first chapter estimates the effect of high school counselors on dropout rates using difference-in-differences methods and a large-scale policy change. I exploit within school student-to-counselor ratio variation in California’s public high schools between 2003 and 2015. The analysis finds that decreases in the student-to-counselor ratio are associated with decreases in dropout rates. For example, a 100-student decrease in the student-to-counselor ratio would decrease the overall dropout rate by 1.7 percentage points. I further show that under conservative assumptions, the costs associated with decreases in the student-to-counselor ratio are offset by the social benefits.

The second chapter provides a novel measure of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics gender gap. Using data science methods, I construct a dataset of high school and middle school science fair projects and use project choices of over 17,000 students to measure gender gaps. I find large gender gaps favoring males in technology, engineering, and mathematics fields that increase across age. For example, the gender gap among middle school math participants is 34 percentage points, increasing to 40 percentage points in high school. Similarly, the gender gap among engineering participants increases from a substantial 26 percentage points in middle school to 29 percentage points in high school.

The third chapter explores the role of child-sex composition preferences on fertility assimilation outcomes for Chinese, Indian, and South Korean women in the United States. Using Census and American Community Survey data, I first determine the sex-composition preferences among immigrant and native women. I then introduce these preferences in the assimilation framework, employing ordinary least squares regressions to determine the fertility differential between immigrants and natives. I show that once second-generation immigrants adopt the native preference for mixed-sex children, their childbearing behavior becomes similar to natives and fertility assimilation occurs.

    Cover page: Essays in Education and Labor Economics
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2019)
    We conduct a resume field experiment in all U.S. states to study how state laws protecting older workers from age discrimination affect age discrimination in hiring for retail sales jobs. We relate the difference in callback rates between old and young applicants to state variation in age and disability discrimination laws. These laws could boost hiring of older applicants, although they could have the unintended consequence of deterring hiring if they increase termination costs. In our preferred estimates that are weighted to be representative of the workforce, we find evidence that there is less discrimination against older men and women in states where age discrimination law allows larger damages, and more limited evidence that there is lower discrimination against older women in states where disability discrimination law allows larger damages. Our clearest result is that these laws do not have the unintended consequence of lowering callbacks for older workers.
      Cover page: Do State Laws Protecting Older Workers from Discrimination Reduce Age Discrimination in Hiring? Evidence from a Field Experiment.
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