Essays on Development and Health Economics: Social Media and Education Policy

Essays on Development and Health Economics: Social Media and Education Policy PDF Author: Qin Jiang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This dissertation consists of three essays on development economics and health economics. The first chapter examines the impact of social media usage on depressive symptoms in the United States. The use of social media can potentially decrease the level of depressive symptoms by providing support or increase the level of depressive symptoms by putting social pressure on users. This chapter leverages a fixed-effects model to estimate the effect of using social media platforms on depressive symptoms. I find that using Twitter decreases the level of depressive symptoms by 27%. This result explains why social media usage in the US has grown steadily even though most studies found that more usage correlated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. There is heterogeneity with respect to age, income, education, race, previous level of depressive symptoms, and region. The average labor market benefit that comes from this effect is equivalent to 0.1% GDP in the US.In the second chapter, I examine the performances of different bias correction methods, such as matching and weighting methods, on improving the representativeness of social media data. I find that matching and weighting methods can effectively improve the representativeness of social media users in most cases examined. Matching methods with smaller number of neighbors or smaller radius produce smaller biases. Improving the representativeness of Twitter users is easier than improving the representativeness of Facebook users.The third chapter is a collaboration with Yinan Liu, in which we study the impact of the primary school starting age policy in China on both short-run and long-run outcomes. We examine the household characteristics of the right age group, early group, and late group based on the compliance. Starting school late is negatively associated with cognitive skills, test scores, highest education achieved and income. We also explore the potential explanations why a large proportion of households send children to primary school before they reach the eligible age in China.

Essays on Development and Health Economics: Social Media and Education Policy

Essays on Development and Health Economics: Social Media and Education Policy PDF Author: Qin Jiang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This dissertation consists of three essays on development economics and health economics. The first chapter examines the impact of social media usage on depressive symptoms in the United States. The use of social media can potentially decrease the level of depressive symptoms by providing support or increase the level of depressive symptoms by putting social pressure on users. This chapter leverages a fixed-effects model to estimate the effect of using social media platforms on depressive symptoms. I find that using Twitter decreases the level of depressive symptoms by 27%. This result explains why social media usage in the US has grown steadily even though most studies found that more usage correlated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. There is heterogeneity with respect to age, income, education, race, previous level of depressive symptoms, and region. The average labor market benefit that comes from this effect is equivalent to 0.1% GDP in the US.In the second chapter, I examine the performances of different bias correction methods, such as matching and weighting methods, on improving the representativeness of social media data. I find that matching and weighting methods can effectively improve the representativeness of social media users in most cases examined. Matching methods with smaller number of neighbors or smaller radius produce smaller biases. Improving the representativeness of Twitter users is easier than improving the representativeness of Facebook users.The third chapter is a collaboration with Yinan Liu, in which we study the impact of the primary school starting age policy in China on both short-run and long-run outcomes. We examine the household characteristics of the right age group, early group, and late group based on the compliance. Starting school late is negatively associated with cognitive skills, test scores, highest education achieved and income. We also explore the potential explanations why a large proportion of households send children to primary school before they reach the eligible age in China.

Essays in Development Economics

Essays in Development Economics PDF Author: Taehoon Kwon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Development economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Early-life education and health interventions have long-lasting impacts on our lifetime welfare. This dissertation consists of three essays in development economics for young people. Chapter 1 examines causal effects of the nationwide college admission policy reform in 2005 which introduces coarsening SAT grade structure and more competitive grading of high school GPA in Korea on high school students' time allocation behavior and welfare in a college admission game. I find no evidence of positive welfare effects. Chapter 2 extends the college admission policy implication by employing various non-parametric methods such as changes-in-changes and quantile difference-in-differences estimators introduced by Athey and Imbens (2006) to show the heterogeneous policy effects on students' leisure and study hours by outcome levels. Chapter 3 analyzes the behavioral effects of a social media fruit drink countermarketing messages. A randomized controlled trial among US Latinx parents with children age 0-5 found that social media countermarketing messages significantly reduced percent choosing fruit drink from online store in the intervention groups compared to the control group with car seat messages after the interventions.

Super Inequality: Theoretical Essays in Economics and Social Policy

Super Inequality: Theoretical Essays in Economics and Social Policy PDF Author: Christian Aspalter
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9819951690
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
This book bridges the disciplines of micro-economics and social policy in general, and, in particular, behavioral/explanatory social policy and public choice theory, plus Leibenstein’s X-efficiency theory. Being trained as an economist and social policy scientist, the author leaps out of the comfort zone of most social policy scientists and experts, right into the exciting world of micro-economic theory, and then extending and connecting those theories to explain major social, political and economic conundrums of our time. In doing so, the book offers a new set of theoretical—and practical—explanations derived from the general proposition of micro-economic theory, of how government officers, policymakers, administrators and the people themselves alike are, by and large, motivated in their daily as well as strategic (long-term) decision-making. Using a meta-analytical approach (based on a number of grand theories), this book also explains systemic factors behind human behavior and the thereof resulting shortcomings in lifetime outcomes (health, wealth and happiness of a person) and at the same time societal, policy-making, and economic outcomes on societal level, and in global comparison. The outcomes thereof can be measured exactly (and hence validated), especially through the method of empirical comparative social science/economic research. Here, the author also (but not only) introduces the new method of using Aspalter's Standardized Relative Performance (SRP) Index in measuring exactly complex, aggregate performances of multiple governments, and that at the same time also across the entire world.

What We Owe Each Other

What We Owe Each Other PDF Author: Minouche Shafik
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069120764X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
From one of the leading policy experts of our time, an urgent rethinking of how we can better support each other to thrive Whether we realize it or not, all of us participate in the social contract every day through mutual obligations among our family, community, place of work, and fellow citizens. Caring for others, paying taxes, and benefiting from public services define the social contract that supports and binds us together as a society. Today, however, our social contract has been broken by changing gender roles, technology, new models of work, aging, and the perils of climate change. Minouche Shafik takes us through stages of life we all experience—raising children, getting educated, falling ill, working, growing old—and shows how a reordering of our societies is possible. Drawing on evidence and examples from around the world, she shows how every country can provide citizens with the basics to have a decent life and be able to contribute to society. But we owe each other more than this. A more generous and inclusive society would also share more risks collectively and ask everyone to contribute for as long as they can so that everyone can fulfill their potential. What We Owe Each Other identifies the key elements of a better social contract that recognizes our interdependencies, supports and invests more in each other, and expects more of individuals in return. Powerful, hopeful, and thought-provoking, What We Owe Each Other provides practical solutions to current challenges and demonstrates how we can build a better society—together.

Communities in Action

Communities in Action PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452961
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 583

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Book Description
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Graduate Studies

Graduate Studies PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Research
Languages : en
Pages : 1294

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Book Description


Rethinking Education for Social Cohesion

Rethinking Education for Social Cohesion PDF Author: M. Shuayb
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137283904
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
This book addresses current debates in the field of social cohesion. It examines the ethics and policy making of social cohesion and explores various means for promoting social cohesion including history education, citizenship education, language, human rights based teacher training and school partnerships.

Research in Education

Research in Education PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 1208

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Book Description


Handbook of Education Policy Research

Handbook of Education Policy Research PDF Author: Gary Sykes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1135856478
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 1062

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Book Description
Co-published by Routledge for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Educational policy continues to be of major concern. Policy debates about economic growth and national competitiveness, for example, commonly focus on the importance of human capital and a highly educated workforce. Defining the theoretical boundaries and methodological approaches of education policy research are the two primary themes of this comprehensive, AERA-sponsored Handbook. Organized into seven sections, the Handbook focuses on (1) disciplinary foundations of educational policy, (2) methodological perspectives, (3) the policy process, (4) resources, management, and organization, (5) teaching and learning policy, (6) actors and institutions, and (7) education access and differentiation. Drawing from multiple disciplines, the Handbook’s over one hundred authors address three central questions: What policy issues and questions have oriented current policy research? What research strategies and methods have proven most fruitful? And what issues, questions, and methods will drive future policy research? Topics such as early childhood education, school choice, access to higher education, teacher accountability, and testing and measurement cut across the 63 chapters in the volume. The politics surrounding these and other issues are objectively analyzed by authors and commentators. Each of the seven sections concludes with two commentaries by leading scholars in the field. The first considers the current state of policy design, and the second addresses the current state of policy research. This book is appropriate for scholars and graduate students working in the field of education policy and for the growing number of academic, government, and think-tank researchers engaged in policy research. For more information on the American Educational Research Association, please visit: http://www.aera.net/.

The Economics of New Goods

The Economics of New Goods PDF Author: Timothy F. Bresnahan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226074188
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
New goods are at the heart of economic progress. The eleven essays in this volume include historical treatments of new goods and their diffusion; practical exercises in measurement addressed to recent and ongoing innovations; and real-world methods of devising quantitative adjustments for quality change. The lead article in Part I contains a striking analysis of the history of light over two millenia. Other essays in Part I develop new price indexes for automobiles back to 1906; trace the role of the air conditioner in the development of the American south; and treat the germ theory of disease as an economic innovation. In Part II essays measure the economic impact of more recent innovations, including anti-ulcer drugs, new breakfast cereals, and computers. Part III explores methods and defects in the treatment of quality change in the official price data of the United States, Canada, and Japan. This pathbreaking volume will interest anyone who studies economic growth, productivity, and the American standard of living.