Three Essays in Applied Microeconomics.

Abstract

My dissertation, Three Essays in Applied Microeconomics, provides an inter-disciplinary look at topics involving choice and welfare in economics.

In my first chapter, Growing Up in a Steel Town: Early-Life Exposure and Later-Life Mortality (Sarah Taylor), I explore individuals who had early life-life exposure to pollutants in towns in Pennsylvania during the early 1900 (a period of time where the coal market was strong and when technology from production was in its infancy. Those who suffered from exposure to pollution had higher mortality rates in later-life. Here, the contribution is to posit new welfare approximations of pollution that can inform policy.

In my second chapter, “Tell All the Truth, but Tell it Slant”: Testing Models of Media Bias (Collin Raymond and Sarah Taylor), we propose a simple setting for make choices giving a stylized setting. We compiled a unique dataset including information about weather predictions, realized weather, and so forth. Given this setting we can run comparative statics and, focusing on choice, we discover how Media Bias may actually improve welfare.

In the final chapter, Behavioral Mechanism Design: Evidence from the Modified First-Price Auctions (Yusufcan Masatlioglu, Sarah Taylor, Neslihan Uler), we gather data in a laboratory setting for which we can directly measure how choices on bids change with difference settings. Here, my coauthors and I look at mechanism design to consider which setting generates better profits for an auctioneer—with the intention of assessing welfare issues for both buyers and those who design the buyers’ auction.