Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Economics

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

This dissertation includes three chapters contributing to the applied economics literature, including international trade and productivity, labor market institutions, and entrepreneurship. Chapter 2 re-examines the impact of international trade on economic growth using a time-varying instrument to address the endogeneity problem in the literature. Chapter 3 is on employment protection and its consequences in the US. Specifically, it uses recent developments in the difference-in-differences approach to investigate the effects of employment protection on employment, wage, and firm profitability in the US between 1970-1999. Chapter 4 builds on American historian Frederick J. Turner’s argument that moving the western frontier influenced American spirit and character. It examines whether the frontier experiences in the formative years have influenced contemporary entrepreneurship.

Date

4-16-2024

Committee Chair

Unel, Bulent

Available for download on Tuesday, April 15, 2031

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