Parey, M.; (2010) Essays in the economics of education and microeconometrics. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis employs microeconometric methods to understand determinants and eects of individual behavior relating to educational choice and consumer demand. Chapter 2 studies the intergenerational eects of maternal education on a range of children's outcomes, including cognitive achievement and behavioral problems. Endogeneity of maternal schooling is addressed by instrumenting with schooling costs during the mother's adolescence. The results show substantial intergenerational returns to education. The chapter studies an array of potential channels which may transmit the eect to the child, including family environment and parental investments. The following chapter 3 investigates the eect of studying abroad on international labor market mobility later in life for university graduates. As source of identifying variation, this work exploits the introduction and expansion of the European ERASMUS student exchange program. Studying abroad signicantly increases the probability of working abroad, and the chapter provides evidence on the underlying mechanisms. Chapter 4 compares labor market outcomes between rm-based apprenticeships and full-time vocational schooling alternatives, exploiting the idea that variation in apprenticeship availability aects the opportunities individuals have when they grow up. The chapter documents how variation in vacancies for apprenticeships aects educational choice. The results show that apprenticeship training leads to lower unemployment rates at ages 23 to 26, but there are no signicant dierences in wages. Chapter 5 develops a new approach to the measurement of price responsiveness of gasoline demand and deadweight loss estimation. It uses shape restrictions derived from economic theory to match a desire for exibility with the need for structure in the welfare analysis of consumer behavior. Using travel survey data, the chapter shows that these restrictions remove the erratic behavior of standard nonparametric approaches. Investigating price responsiveness across the income distribution, the middle income group is found to be the most responsive.

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