Commuting, gender, and military service: three essays in applied microeconomics
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- James Gray Kimbrough III (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Kenneth Snowden
Abstract: This dissertation uses applied microeconometrics to examine the economics of time allocation and human capital. To do so, these essays bring together data from a variety of sources, build theoretical economic models, and apply econometric methods to deal with empirical issues. In Chapter II, a new measure of commuting time for U.S. households is constructed by applying a previously developed methodology to a novel data source, the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). To assess the suitability of this new measure for empirical analysis, commuting times and patterns within the ATUS measure are then compared to those for commuting measures that have been constructed from other commonly used data sources. Chapter III takes advantage of this novel measure and associated ATUS data to investigate why women tend have shorter commutes than men. Previous studies have examined this “gender commuting gap,” but have yet to provide a satisfying explanation. A theoretical economic model is developed here that generates predictions complementary to those in the literature. The empirical analysis that follows establishes that the measured gender gap is reduced when stops are included in the calculation of commuting times, but that the remaining gender difference in commuting time is related to gender differences in wages and the types of jobs held. Chapter IV applies econometric methods to a different empirical issue: the impact of military service in WWII and the Korean War on the educational attainment of children. Using U.S. Census data, this chapter constructs linked family data to find that a father's military service is associated with greater educational progress for his children. Applying multiple methods to account for endogenous effects, the analysis is unable to reject the hypothesis that the observed relationship is due to endogeneity.
Commuting, gender, and military service: three essays in applied microeconomics
PDF (Portable Document Format)
2025 KB
Created on 5/1/2016
Views: 839
Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2016
- Keywords
- Commuting, Educational progress, Gender, Military service, Time use
- Subjects
- Microeconomics
- Commuting $z United States
- Commuting $x Sex differences
- Children of military personnel $x Education
- Academic achievement