Essays in the Economics of Education and Experimental Economics

[摘要] This dissertation consists of three studies in the economics of education and experimental economics. In Chapter 1, I address a debate in the literature about the effects of measures of school quality on labor market earnings. Using individual-level data, previous studies find no effects of measures of school quality and a subsequent study argues that the result is driven by the sample that includes mainly young individuals. I use recent NLSY79 Geocode data that provides extended earnings observations including prime-age earnings. I find that the percentage of teachers with a Master's degree has a positive long-run effect on individuals' earnings in the labor market. In Chapter 2, we examine the Dell Scholars Program which provides a combination of financial support and individualized advising to selected students throughout their postsecondary experience. We capitalize on an arbitrary cutoff in the program’s algorithmic selection process and a regression-discontinuity analytic strategy. We find that, at the margin of eligibility, being selected as a Dell Scholar has positive impacts on later persistence and on-time bachelor's degree completion. Finally, in Chapter 3, we conduct a series of laboratory experiments to explore the effects of religion on prosocial risk taking. We find that the religious message can induce prosocial risk taking only when doing so help others of the same beliefs.

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh