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https://archives.kdischool.ac.kr/handle/11125/28464
2024-03-29T15:57:26ZThree essays on time and development economics
https://archives.kdischool.ac.kr/handle/11125/54075
Title: Three essays on time and development economics
Authors: MWANDONDWA, Lusekelo George
Abstract: This dissertation covers topics on time allocation and development economics. Chapter 1 examines professional development (PD) training as a mechanism for bridging achievement gaps both among teachers and among pupils. Employing a difference-in-differences approach, I find that PD training allowed both teachers and students with low performance to bridge the achievement gap. Chapter 2 focuses on analyzing how the satisfaction of both leaders and subordinates relate to the competence and work behaviors of subordinates. The findings reveal that both the satisfaction of leaders and subordinates are significant for professional competence and working behaviors of subordinates. These findings underscore that leader and subordinate satisfaction are not substitutable but rather complement each other in shaping competence and work-related behaviors within an organization. Chapter 3 unpacks the patterns and heterogeneity in the allocation of time to market work, household production, as well as leisure and relaxation activities, with a specific focus on the life cycle of both children and individuals. Through descriptive analysis of American Time Use Survey data spanning from 2003 to 2021, I unveil that time use pattern and heterogeneity evolve throughout the child’s life cycle and individual’s stages of life. For instance, bachelor’s degree (BA) holders allocate more time to work-related activities than non-BA holders, with the gap increasing as the child grows from infancy to age 17. However, they allocate less time on socializing and leisure compared to non-BA holders. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for policymakers, employers, and individuals striving for a more balanced and productive life.
Description: Thesis(Doctoral) -- KDI School: Ph.D in Development Policy, 20232023-01-01T00:00:00ZPolitical and economic legacy of conflict
https://archives.kdischool.ac.kr/handle/11125/54076
Title: Political and economic legacy of conflict
Authors: YAMEOGO, Souleymane
Abstract: Chapter 1: Terrorism, Creativity and Economic Resilience: Natural Experiment from the Boston Marathon bombing.
The profound impact of terrorism on individual well-being and economic prospects is widely acknowledged. However, the research landscape lacks an exploration of creativity’s potential role in mitigating the repercussions of traumatic events despite established connections between social capital, positive emotions, and post-traumatic recovery. This study bridges this gap by employing the Unexpected Event during Survey Design (UESD) method and counterfactual mediation analysis to probe the causal relationship between terrorism, creativity, and income. Drawing from data obtained from the European Social Survey (ESS round 6), focusing on the high-profile event of the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, I uncover that terrorism originating in the United States negatively impacts European income while concurrently stimulating creativity. Specifically, creativity causally mediates 5-7 percent of the adverse income impact resulting from the Boston Marathon bombing. This finding underscores the transformative potential of creativity in cultivating resilience among individuals and communities grappling with the aftermath of terrorism.
Chapter 2:Preference for Democracy in Conflict-Affected Africa Coauthored with Chysostomos Tabakis
Conflicts have a significant impact on political institutions and regime change. Voters’ preferences regarding domestic regime types tend to shift, with a greater emphasis on security and a tendency to hold leaders accountable for their failure to provide it. Using Afrobarometer data(Round 7) and ACLED, this study finds that conflict boosts the preference for democracy in Africa. In democracies, although there is no evidence that people support authoritarian institutions following a conflict, in hybrid/authoritarian regimes, voters reject authoritarianism and endorse democracy. Moreover, riots have the strongest effect on people’s desire for democracy, mainly in Africa and the sub-sample of authoritarian countries in Africa. Citizens need a lawful environment to voice their discontent with their leaders’ actions. In sum, although conflict can threaten democracy, it can also provide an opportunity for democratic change in authoritarian nations.
Chapter 3: Riots and Trust in the Police:Natural Experiment using Riots in Africa.
Extensive studies have investigated the relationship between citizens and the police, specifically the impact of police’s misconduct on public trust in the police. However, there is a dwarf of studies investigating how exposure to riots affects public trust in the police, and through the lens of the police’s role in restoring and maintaining social order and safety. This study shifts the focus from solely analyzing trust-related police misconduct to the broader dynamics of trust-related riots, regardless of their sources. Analyzing data from Afrobarometer and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project and using a spatial difference-in-difference, I investigate the impact of exposure to riots in shaping public trust in the police, and the underlying mechanism. The results show that exposure to riots induce a positive change in public trust in the police, primarily driven by positive perceptions of police behavior and effective task performance. Additionally, trust increases among citizens who perceive their ethnic group as not facing discrimination, and communities with strong social bonds rebuild trust more effectively. These findings emphasize the post-riot period as an opportunity for reforms that address public concerns, enhance police efficiency, and foster greater confidence between the police and communities.
Description: Thesis(Doctoral) -- KDI School: Ph.D in Public Policy, 20232023-01-01T00:00:00ZThree empirical essays on child marriage, changing social norms, and women's life outcomes
https://archives.kdischool.ac.kr/handle/11125/46575
Title: Three empirical essays on child marriage, changing social norms, and women's life outcomes
Authors: Sime, Workenh Eshatuu
Abstract: Chapter 1: Child Marriage and Women’s Educational Attainment: Evidence from a Policy Experiment in Ethiopia
In 2000, the Ethiopian government revised the 1960 Family Code-FC. According to the 1960 FC, the legal minimum age for marriage was 15. However, the Revised FC increased to 18 years. Article 7 sub-article 1 of Revised FC stated that neither a man nor a woman who has not attained the full age of eighteen years shall conclude a marriage. As Ethiopia is a federal country established with 10 regions and 2 city administrations, there were geographic and time variations in adopting the Revised FC. Having these variations, this study seeks to analyze the impact of the Revised FC on age at marriage and women’s educational attainment, as well as the impact of early marriage on women’s educational attainment in Ethiopia. The key data source for this study is the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). According to the Generalized Difference-in-Differences with multiple groups and time periods estimation results, adoption of the Revised Family Code (RFC) increases the age at marriage by 0.16 years and years of attained education by 0.12 years for treated observations relative to controlled observation assuming ceteris paribus. The instrumental variable (IV) estimate reveals that as age at marriage increases by 1 year, years of educational attainment increase by 0.65 years. Building on the results, it is highly recommendable for the Ethiopian government to enforce effective implementation of the policy all over the country, assign human and financial resources, and design an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism.
Chapter 2: Evaluating the Long-run Impact of adopting Revised Family Code on Women’s Life Outcomes
Currently, there are coordinated efforts by national and international development agencies to tackle the problem of early marriage. In 2000, the Ethiopian government by revising the 1960’s Family Code, extended the minimum legal age for marriage from 15 to 18 years. Having this exogenous policy intervention, this study aimed to evaluate the long-run impact of adopting the Revised Family Code (RFC) on women’s life outcomes as well as estimate the impact of child marriage and age at marriage on women’s life outcomes. The major source of the data is Ethiopia’s Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data. To achieve these objectives the author runs Generalized Difference-in-differences (DID) with multiple groups and time periods, and Two Stages Least Squares (2SLS) estimation techniques. The study shows that the adoption of RFC significantly increased women’s life outcomes (wealth index (2%), work on a paid job (2%), and asset ownership (0.2%)), ceteris paribus. On average, as age at marriage increased by one year, the probability of wealth index significantly increased by (0.07), work on a paid job (0.07), and asset ownership (0.007), ceteris paribus. The findings of the study show that the high prevalence of child marriage significantly decreases the long-run women’s life outcomes. Thus, the researcher recommends for all responsible bodies to exhort the maximum possible effort for the effective implementation of the Revised Family Code (RFC).
Chapter 3: Changing Social Norms on Child Marriage through a Legislative Change: A case study of the Revised Family Code enforcement in Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Government took a major step to end the practice of child marriage in 2000 with the revision of the old 1960 Family Code. The revision pulled up the minimum legal age for marriage from 15 to 18 and made the practice of child marriage punishable in the criminal code for the first time. Revising the Family Code, however, was not going to end the practice by itself. The purpose of this case study is to find out hurdles that had to be addressed and overcome, and supplementary policies that were adopted to help end the practice of child marriage. The study identifies a long list of barriers to the effective implementation of the Revised Family Code including the existence of harmful social norms and practices, capacity gaps in the legal system, and limitations in access to media in large parts of the country. To overcome these and other “delivery challenges”, the leaders of the government and the civil society engaged the citizens and community leaders in public awareness campaigns, developed programs to empower women and children in local communities, and improved the judicial system, among other things. These interventions led to changes in social norms and public attitudes regarding child marriage, and more importantly, to a substantial reduction in child marriage throughout the country.
Description: Thesis(Doctoral) -- KDI School: Ph.D in Development Policy, 20222022-01-01T00:00:00ZThree essays on development issues
https://archives.kdischool.ac.kr/handle/11125/46577
Title: Three essays on development issues
Authors: HWANG, Sooyoung
Abstract: This dissertation presents the empirical results of a series of studies on the development issues such as income inequality, poverty, and employee’s well-being. The objective of this study is to examine empirical evidence of how technological progress affect income inequality in advanced countries as well as poverty reduction in developing countries, and further to explore the effect of work hour reduction policy on employee well-being. This will enable us to expand our understanding on the effects of technological progress on socio-economic outcomes as well as the impact of labor market policy on worker’s satisfaction. This thesis consists of three chapters under the broad banner of three essays on development issues: inequality, poverty, and well-being.
The first essay, Innovation and Top Income Inequality: Evidence from OECD Countries, aims to explore the effect of innovation on top income inequality in OECD countries over the period of 1980-2017. Innovation is proxied by the number of patent application. Top income inequality is expressed by top 0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, 10% income shares. Sample countries are 34 high-income countries as most innovations occur in these countries. Using cross-country panel and 2SLS estimations to deal with the endogeneity, I found that innovation has positive and significant impact on top income shares in rich countries. These results are also robust using alternative innovation variables such as patent grant and patent citation data. Based on this finding, I propose three kinds of policy options to reduce rising top income inequality: prevent tax loopholes used by the richest and strengthen tax progressivity for the top riches, lastly enhance educational reforms to improve moral values and thus reduce corruptions.
The second essay, Financial Innovation, Financial Inclusion, and Poverty: Evidence from Developing Countries, explores the links between financial innovation and poverty in developing countries. For this, a panel was set up for 103 developing countries over the period of 2004-2018. To address endogeneity, OLS with fixed effects and instrument variable strategy are used. As external instruments, latitude of capital city and legal origins are used for European ex-colonies. The results show that financial innovation measured by Financial Inclusion Index shows negative and significant effects on poverty. This is robust when using alternative Financial Development Index created by IMF. Thus, financial innovation is a useful tool for poverty reduction in developing countries. This implies that financial innovation enhances financial inclusion through easier access to finance, which brings about growth and reduces poverty. This encourages developing countries to make efforts on boosting financial innovation to address poverty issue.
The third essay, The Effect of Work Hour Reduction on Employee Satisfaction: The Case of Working Hour Reduction Policy in Korea, investigates the effect of standard 40-hour workweek policy on workers’ subjective well-being in Korea. The essential part of the policy was to reduce legal work hour per week from 44 to 40 hours, aiming to improve workers’ quality of lives. The policy was implemented in time order by industry and firm size from 2004 through 2011. This policy setting provides us a good opportunity to explore the causal impact of the policy by using DID (difference-in-difference) analysis. I use Korea Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) data to estimate the effect of the policy on life and job satisfaction by applying DID estimation method. I found that the policy has significant effect on life satisfaction with leisure and family income while negative effects on job satisfaction overall. This result is also robust when the dependent variables are converted into binary variables.
Description: Thesis(Doctoral) -- KDI School: Ph.D in Development Policy, 20222022-01-01T00:00:00Z