The Nurture Effect: Like Father, Like Son. What about for an Adopted Child? A Study of Korean-American Adoptees on the Impact of Family Environment and Genes
By Suanna Seung-yun Oh
I investigate the influences of family environment and genes on children’s educational outcomes by working with data on Korean American adoptees and their non-adoptive siblings. I make use of the natural experiment setting where children were quasi-randomly assigned to families. From Sacerdote’s discussion of the three different approaches of analyzing the data, I derive a single-equation model that encompasses the three approaches as a few of its specific cases. The first part of my analysis identifies the causal effect of being assigned to a certain family environment. The second part of my analysis looks into causes of the differences between the educational attainment of adoptees and biological children, adding to the economists’ discussion on the relative importance of nature and nurture.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy | JEL Codes: J, J12,J13, J24 | Tagged: Adoption, Child Development, Education, Environmental Influence
The Marital Wage Premium in the Twenty-First Century: Do married men earn a higher wage rate, and if so, why?
By Halley Hu
Married men have historically earned higher wages than single men. One of the most prominent explanations for this phenomenon is the theory of intra-household specialization. However, the marriage premium was found to be decreasing up until the early 90’s. In our paper, we have re-examined the wage premium using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Our analysis focuses on an early period (1990-1992) and a later period (2002-2006). Our results suggest that the marital wage premium has actually been increasing over time, but that specialization does not do an adequate job of explaining this result.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy
Female Surname Choice: Historical, Cultural, and Branding Influences at Duke University
By Corinne Grzbowski
Female surname choice at marriage depends on a range of historical, cultural, and branding factors. Two of the three datasets are administrative datasets from the Duke University Alumni Association (DAA), which include every female Duke alumnae from 1960-2000. The third dataset comes from a survey administered to Duke alumnae. We find that the fraction of ―keepers,‖ women who retain their surname instead of taking their husband‘s name, has increased since the 1970s, with a statistically significant peak in the undergraduate class of 1990. We also find evidence of branding: women who spend time developing their name through higher education or a more visible career are more likely to keep their surname upon marriage.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy
Entering the Campus Courtship Culture: Factors that Influence College Students‘ Relationship Types
By Sott Casale
Drawing on data from a 2007 random sample of Duke University seniors (369 males and 381 females), this paper analyzes individual factors that influence whether men and women were more likely to engage in the hook-up culture or an exclusive romantic relationship (ERR) as compared to doing nothing. There is substantial research to support that relationship styles are changing on college campuses as students delay marriage and maintain more liberalized views on sex before marriage. The economic theory of marital-specific capital may provide some insight into why students on college campuses are developing more casual relationships as time becomes an important factor. In this college environment, student characteristics as well as personal beliefs and perceptions about these particular courtship styles may influence whether a college student will be hooking-up or in an exclusive romantic relationship his or her junior and senior year. Results from this study indicate that students on financial aid, a time variable, will be less likely to be in an exclusive romantic relationship or hook-up during their junior or senior year as compared to doing nothing. In addition, although it is difficult to attribute causality for peer effects, Duke students who believe a higher percentage of their friends hook-up will also be more likely to hook-up. Also, Duke students who have their first intercourse at a older age and are more religious are less likely to hook-up. Finally, students are persistent in their relationship behavior, meaning that their behavior junior year is a strong predictor of behavior senior year.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy
Running Head: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ASSET ALLOCATION: Rational Lifetime Investment Strategies: Gender Differences in the Allocation of Assets in
By Chase Lancaster
Previous research has demonstrated that women have greater risk aversion than men. Controlling for age, education, family size, income, self-reported financial risk tolerance, and occupation, this study examines the impact of gender on asset allocation decisions in retirement accounts. Our findings suggests that after accounting for a large number of factors, single women tend to choose more conservative investment allocations in their retirement accounts than do single men. However, within married households, no significant gender differences in asset allocation were found. Spousal influence within married couples was examined and seemed to explain away gender differences for married households.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy
The Significance of Higher Education on the Racial Gap in Marriage Rates
By Kristin Hamb
In this paper, I examine the effect higher education has on the age of marriage and how this differs between black and white women. Becker’s theory of positive assortative mating in marriage markets lead me to predict higher levels of education would decrease the probability of being married by 30 and 40 for black women more than white women. My probit regressions showed that, despite an initial delay in marriage, increased education had a positive effect on the probability of marriage for black women confirming that lesser educated black women are more at risk of falling into the racial marriage gap.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy
Wife’s labor supply and marital dissolution: evidence from the NLSY79
By Wichsinee Wilbulpoprasert
In response to the changing family and social structures in the United States, an accurate understanding of mechanisms and the driving forces of marital dissolution is important in many aspects. For one, the knowledge helps policy and law makers to conjecture possible results of the legislation (e.g. unilateral divorce law, child alimony, or child custody), and the welfare system (e.g. welfare benefits to children and women after divorce) on marriages, divorces, and labor supply. Our goal is to provide additional evidence to a debatable issue in labor and family economics: Does married women’s labor supply increases the chance of their future divorces? or is the relationship the other way around? Prior studies have produced conflicting results. We first propose and estimate a dynamic model, namely a divorce hazard analysis, that allows us to predict the risks of marital dissolution at different stages during the marital life course as a function of endogenous wife’s labor supply. By estimating the proposed model on a more recent data set, the NLSY79, we hope to address econometrics issues occurred in earlier studies, as well as present new evidence for these competing claims.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy
Does the NBA Encourage Early Entry?
By Griffen Tormey
Over the last decade, the number of underclassmen selected in the first round of the NBA Draft has dramatically increased. Even when controlling for performance in college, underclassmen are paid significantly more than college seniors. What is going on here? Isn’t experience a good thing? Groothuis, Hill, and Perri (2007) were the first to argue that the rookie pay scale introduced in 1995 is responsible for the shift in behavior. They use Lazear’s (1998) option value theory as a means of explaining this action. His theory is the result of applying the financial principle of option value to labor economics. As the estimate of a worker’s future production becomes more volatile, his option value increases. In the NBA Draft, early entrants have more option value than college seniors because less information is available about them, and they are less developed. The rookie pay scale sets compensation limits that lower the relative price of rookies. With less money at risk for the same upside potential, teams have an incentive to choose early entrants. This study empirically proves that option value is significant in determining draft order after 1995, and that along with the new rookie compensation structure, it explains the unraveling in the NBA labor market.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy
Undue Burdens: The Effect of Abortion Restrictions on Foster Care Entry Rates
By Sara Sutherland
Since the 1973 ruling of Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court has permitted a new abortion law enforced at the state level that requires parental consent or notification for unmarried minors seeking abortion. This paper uses a panel of pooled state-level foster care entry rates over the years 1990 through 2005 and considers the impact of parental involvement restrictions on the foster care entry rates. Adding state and year fixed effects to control for changing unobservable variables, the results suggest a statistically significant positive correlation between enforced parental consent laws and foster care entry rates during these years. The results provide evidence that the presence of enforced parental consent laws can explain some of the increase in foster care entries. In opposition to previous results testing alternative outcomes, these results point to the ineffectiveness of notice laws (as opposed to consent laws) when considering foster care entry as the tested outcome.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy
Risky Business: The Effect of Family Income on Teen Risky Sexual Behavior
By Caitlin McLaughlin
Risky sexual behavior can have profound consequences for a teen’s physical wellbeing, mental health, and future economic success. We explore this topic by examining the relationship between total household income and risky sexual behaviors including the use of birth control, number of sexual partners, age at first intercourse, and the contraction of STDs. Our results show a significant negative correlation between income and unprotected intercourse among females that increases for teens with higher test scores. We then examine if and how household income affects the chosen mode of contraception. Results suggest that income does play a significant role in a teen girl’s decision of whether to use the birth control pill or a less expensive alternative.
Advisor: Marjorie McElroy
