Date: 2023
Type: Thesis
Essays in development and applied economics
Florence : European University Institute, 2023, EUI, ECO, PhD Thesis
BERNARDINO FIGUEIREDO, Dalila Adriana, Essays in development and applied economics, Florence : European University Institute, 2023, EUI, ECO, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75626
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
In the first chapter, I study the effect of a conditional cash transfer program in Mexico on early marriage. I estimate the impact of the program leveraging its staggered implementation. The program provides monetary benefits to households, conditional on children’s school attendance. I find that, for female beneficiaries, exposure to the conditional cash transfer increased the probability of getting married. After five years of exposure to the program, beneficiary girls are, on average, almost 7 p.p more likely to be married than the control group. I find no effect for boys. These findings contrast with the previously documented positive effects of the program in education, which is usually associated with decreases in child marriage. I reconcile the simultaneous increase in marriage and education in a conceptual framework in which agents treat marriage as a normal good. I test the hypothesis that these results are driven by an income effect. I exploit the variation in household composition and find that non-eligible children in beneficiary households - who were only exposed to the increase in household income - were between 10 and 18p.p more likely to be married than their counterparts in non-treated villages. In the second chapter, we study the drivers of performance on standardised English tests, focusing on writing tasks. Through a survey experiment, we will understand how different attributes contribute to English writing quality. Understanding performance determinants is critical given that standardised English tests act as gatekeepers since they are often used for exchange programs, admission to undergraduate and graduate programs, internships, and immigration processes. In the third chapter, we look at the effect of a land registration reform on children’s investment in Ethiopia. The land registration reform has potentially increased welfare due to land tenure, allowing for more productive land use and efficient labour allocation. We hypothesise that increases in welfare allow for more investment in nutrition in the form of better nutrition. We look at four health outcomes: stunting, wasting, underweight and anaemia. We find that children are healthier in regions that took part in the land registration program. They are less likely to be stunted, wasted and underweight. Point estimates are larger for boys than girls. In the same years, some regions in Ethiopia also approved the Revised Family Code, aiming at empowering women by improving their social and economic situation. Overall, we find no significant effect of this revision on the four health outcomes, and there is suggestive evidence that the interaction between the two reforms is harmful to children’s health.
Table of Contents:
1. The Effect of a Conditional Cash Transfer on Child Marriage: Evidence from Mexico --
2. The Effect of Familiarity on Performance and its Implications on Fairness --
References --
2.A Appendix --
3. The Effect of Land Rights on Children
Additional information:
Defence date: 05 June 2023; Examining Board: Prof. Sule Alan, (European University Institute, supervisor); Prof. Alessandro Tarozzi, European University Institute, co-supervisor); Prof. Selim Gulesci, (Trinity College Dublin); Prof. Elise Huillery, (Université Paris-Dauphine); The abstract has been temporarily (until 2027) redacted for research purposes.
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75626
Series/Number: EUI; ECO; PhD Thesis
Publisher: European University Institute
LC Subject Heading: Development economics; Emigrant remittances; Educational tests and measurements; Political planning
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