| This dissertation consists of three essays that use a variety of econometric techniques to investigate issues in labor economics. The first essay explores the effects of attending predominantly-female high schools and women's colleges on labor market outcomes. I find that though women who attended these schools are no more or less likely to enter the workforce, they do earn a 10.3% higher wage than women who attended coeducational high schools, which falls to 5.8% using controls for selection into schooling and the workforce. Using data from a college that was chartered as a women's college and later became coeducational, I find that the alumnae were less likely to pursue many traditionally male-dominated majors and occupations, but were not less likely to attain advanced degrees after the admissions change.; The second essay examines the reaction of stock prices to the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970. I use standard event study analysis and focus on a number of different dates including final passage and House Rules Committee release. The cumulative effect on a sample of manufacturing firms over many days is more negative, so that the detrimental effect on stock prices was not quickly mitigated. My results suggest that shareholders saw OSHA as having a lasting negative impact on firm value.; The third essay (coauthored by Kevin F. Hallock) investigates the relationship between job loss announcements and top-management changes in U.S. firms using detailed data on each published job loss announcement in a broad set of large firms from 1970 to 1995. We begin by confirming the results of previous authors concerning the relationship between relative firm performance and management turnover. Next we consider the effect of job loss announcements on CEO turnover and find a surprising yet robust result; job loss announcements two years in the past are strongly related to top-management changes. We go on to investigate whether this relationship has changed over time, as well as several possible explanations for this finding, including a change in the mix of reasons for job loss announcements and changes in management entrenchment. |
