Essays in Labor Economics, Political Economy, and Economic History
Essays in Labor Economics, Political Economy, and Economic History
상세정보
- 자료유형
- 학위논문 서양
- 최종처리일시
- 20250211151411
- ISBN
- 9798382762005
- DDC
- 320
- 저자명
- Medici, Carlo.
- 서명/저자
- Essays in Labor Economics, Political Economy, and Economic History
- 발행사항
- [Sl] : Northwestern University, 2024
- 발행사항
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2024
- 형태사항
- 215 p
- 주기사항
- Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-11, Section: A.
- 주기사항
- Advisor: Qian, Nancy;Mokyr, Joel.
- 학위논문주기
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Northwestern University, 2024.
- 초록/해제
- 요약This dissertation is composed of three essays at the intersection of Labor Economics, Political Economy, and Economic History. The first essay investigates the determinants of the formation and growth of labor unions. The second essay examines the effect of immigration restrictions on the labor market and economic development. The third essay studies the role and consequences of political connections on the careers and performance of public sector employees.In the first essay, I show that immigration positively affected the emergence of organized labor in the United States. I digitize archival data to construct the first county-level dataset on historical U.S. union membership and use a shift-share instrument to isolate a plausibly exogenous shock to the labor supply induced by immigration, between 1900 and 1920. Counties that received more immigration experienced an increase in the probability of having any labor union, the share of unionized workers, the number of local union branches, and the average branch size. The increase occurred more prominently in counties more exposed to the immigrants' labor competition and harboring less favorable attitudes towards immigration. Taken together, these results indicate that existing workers formed and joined labor unions due to economic and social motivations. The findings shed light on a novel driver of unionization in the early 20th-century United States: in the absence of immigration, the average union density of this period would have been 17% lower. They also identify an unexplored consequence of immigration: the development of institutions that aim to protect workers' status in the labor market.In the second essay, which is joint work with Joe Long, Nancy Qian, and Marco Tabellini, we examine the impact of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act on the economic development of the Western United States. The ban of Chinese immigrants reduced the total number of Chinese workers across all sectors and skills. It had similar negative effects on other workers, including native-born white workers and European immigrants -- the intended beneficiaries of the Act -- especially in the manufacturing, railroad, and mining industries. The Act also reduced manufacturing output, productivity, and the number of manufacturing establishments. The adverse economic effects were long-lasting and persisted until at least 1940.In the third essay, which is joint work with Massimo Pulejo, we analyze the consequences of political connections in the civil service of the United States over more than two centuries. Focusing on the federal judiciary system, where political appointments are the selection method still used today, and leveraging individual-level data on judges and members of Congress from 1789 to the present, we use a difference-in-differences design to compare the careers and performance of judges before and after the senator who recommended their nomination leaves Congress. After losing the connection to their recommender, the probability of a judge being promoted from a district court to a court of appeals decreases by up to 48%. Such impact emerges in years in which judges share partisanship with the incumbent president, and they could thus benefit from the lobbying efforts of their political connection. This event has also sizable consequences on judges' performance: following the recommender's exit from Congress, judges write fewer judicial opinions, of shorter length, and of poorer quality, as proxied by both fewer backward and forward citations. These results are consistent with judges reducing their effort and productivity once their career prospects are drastically hindered.
- 일반주제명
- Political science
- 키워드
- Labor market
- 키워드
- Workers' status
- 기타저자
- Northwestern University Managerial Economics and Strategy
- 기본자료저록
- Dissertations Abstracts International. 85-11A.
- 전자적 위치 및 접속
- 로그인 후 원문을 볼 수 있습니다.
MARC
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■00520250211151411
■006m o d
■007cr#unu||||||||
■020 ▼a9798382762005
■035 ▼a(MiAaPQ)AAI31292736
■040 ▼aMiAaPQ▼cMiAaPQ
■0820 ▼a320
■1001 ▼aMedici, Carlo.▼0(orcid)0000-0002-6826-4825
■24510▼aEssays in Labor Economics, Political Economy, and Economic History
■260 ▼a[Sl]▼bNorthwestern University▼c2024
■260 1▼aAnn Arbor▼bProQuest Dissertations & Theses▼c2024
■300 ▼a215 p
■500 ▼aSource: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-11, Section: A.
■500 ▼aAdvisor: Qian, Nancy;Mokyr, Joel.
■5021 ▼aThesis (Ph.D.)--Northwestern University, 2024.
■520 ▼aThis dissertation is composed of three essays at the intersection of Labor Economics, Political Economy, and Economic History. The first essay investigates the determinants of the formation and growth of labor unions. The second essay examines the effect of immigration restrictions on the labor market and economic development. The third essay studies the role and consequences of political connections on the careers and performance of public sector employees.In the first essay, I show that immigration positively affected the emergence of organized labor in the United States. I digitize archival data to construct the first county-level dataset on historical U.S. union membership and use a shift-share instrument to isolate a plausibly exogenous shock to the labor supply induced by immigration, between 1900 and 1920. Counties that received more immigration experienced an increase in the probability of having any labor union, the share of unionized workers, the number of local union branches, and the average branch size. The increase occurred more prominently in counties more exposed to the immigrants' labor competition and harboring less favorable attitudes towards immigration. Taken together, these results indicate that existing workers formed and joined labor unions due to economic and social motivations. The findings shed light on a novel driver of unionization in the early 20th-century United States: in the absence of immigration, the average union density of this period would have been 17% lower. They also identify an unexplored consequence of immigration: the development of institutions that aim to protect workers' status in the labor market.In the second essay, which is joint work with Joe Long, Nancy Qian, and Marco Tabellini, we examine the impact of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act on the economic development of the Western United States. The ban of Chinese immigrants reduced the total number of Chinese workers across all sectors and skills. It had similar negative effects on other workers, including native-born white workers and European immigrants -- the intended beneficiaries of the Act -- especially in the manufacturing, railroad, and mining industries. The Act also reduced manufacturing output, productivity, and the number of manufacturing establishments. The adverse economic effects were long-lasting and persisted until at least 1940.In the third essay, which is joint work with Massimo Pulejo, we analyze the consequences of political connections in the civil service of the United States over more than two centuries. Focusing on the federal judiciary system, where political appointments are the selection method still used today, and leveraging individual-level data on judges and members of Congress from 1789 to the present, we use a difference-in-differences design to compare the careers and performance of judges before and after the senator who recommended their nomination leaves Congress. After losing the connection to their recommender, the probability of a judge being promoted from a district court to a court of appeals decreases by up to 48%. Such impact emerges in years in which judges share partisanship with the incumbent president, and they could thus benefit from the lobbying efforts of their political connection. This event has also sizable consequences on judges' performance: following the recommender's exit from Congress, judges write fewer judicial opinions, of shorter length, and of poorer quality, as proxied by both fewer backward and forward citations. These results are consistent with judges reducing their effort and productivity once their career prospects are drastically hindered.
■590 ▼aSchool code: 0163.
■650 4▼aPolitical science
■653 ▼aPublic sector employees
■653 ▼aLabor competition
■653 ▼aLabor market
■653 ▼aWorkers' status
■690 ▼a0501
■690 ▼a0510
■690 ▼a0615
■71020▼aNorthwestern University▼bManagerial Economics and Strategy.
■7730 ▼tDissertations Abstracts International▼g85-11A.
■790 ▼a0163
■791 ▼aPh.D.
■792 ▼a2024
■793 ▼aEnglish
■85640▼uhttp://www.riss.kr/pdu/ddodLink.do?id=T17161547▼nKERIS▼z이 자료의 원문은 한국교육학술정보원에서 제공합니다.
