Essays in Applied Microeconomics

Abstract

In this dissertation, I discuss three papers. The first two, “Fixing the Leaky Pipeline: The Role of Beliefs About Ability in STEM Major Choice” and “Knowing What it Takes: The Effect of Information About Returns to Studying on Study Effort and Achievement”, use field experiments to influence student beliefs to study student decision making. These papers demonstrate both the need to focus on students’ mental models of decision characteristics when creating education policy, as well as the potential for thoughtful information interventions to influence student behavior. The third paper, “The Economic Impacts of Hurricane Maria”, studies how a sudden influx of workers into a labor market influences the local economy. We find that these new workers grow the economy overall, with heterogeneous effects by sector. These three papers each show how rigorous research designs and econometric techniques can help us study complex social phenomenon.