Essays in applied microeconomics

This dissertation investigates how public policies and institutional features influence labor market behavior, worker productivity, and economic outcomes across different settings. Chapter 1 investigates how job security affects teacher retention and student learning in Peru, using a nationwide education reform and administrative data. Using a regression discontinuity design, I show that exit rates from the profession decrease by 25% for teachers marginally passing the exam compared to failing, with stronger effects for higher-quality teachers, based on ex-ante value-added measures. Exploiting variation within-students across subjects, I find that students taught by permanent contract teachers experience learning gains of 0.14 standard deviations, with effects concentrated in urban areas. A difference-in-differences analysis finds that teacher value-added increases by 7.5% in schools exposed to the reform. Results highlight that test-based job security can be a useful policy tool to improve public sector productivity. Chapter 2 examines the impact of the Secure Communities (SC) program, an immigration enforcement policy, on rental markets in the United States. Using a difference-in-differences framework, I exploit the staggered rollout of SC across counties between 2008 and 2014 to estimate its effect on rental prices at the local level. Leveraging microdata from the American Community Survey (ACS), I find that SC led to a 1.3 percent statistically significant decline in average rents, with stronger effects in areas with larger Hispanic and undocumented immigrant populations. The decline in rental prices appears to be driven by reductions in immigrant housing demand, consistent with SC’s deterrent effects on undocumented populations. In contrast, I find no evidence of significant rent declines in areas with higher shares of non-Hispanic whites or Black residents. The findings highlight how policy interventions targeting specific populations can reshape urban economic conditions. Chapter 3 examines the impact of pregnancy and childbirth on labor market outcomes across 16 European countries using a pseudo-event study utilizing pre-conception data and information on month of childbirth. We document a sharp and persistent decline in mothers’ employment, with over one-third of the drop occurring during pregnancy, especially the third trimester. We also find reductions in income between the third trimester and post-childbirth, with small compensatory increases in maternity benefits. For fathers, hours worked and earnings rise briefly between conception and delivery, driven mainly by unmarried men. Monthly data and labor market outcomes during pregnancy allow us to uncover a previously overlooked pregnancy penalty for women, but a pregnancy premium for men. Together, these chapters offer new evidence on how public policy shapes labor market outcomes and contributes to broader patterns of inequality and economic opportunity.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Economics

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Adohinzin, Wilfried

Contributors dc:contributor

• Akresh, Richard
• Marx, Ben
• Bartik, Alex
• Garin, Andy
• Kleemans, Marieke

• Teachers
• Job Security
• Immigration
• Enforcement
• Housing
• Pregnancy
• Childbirth
• Labor Market

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Wilfried Adohinzin

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129593

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129593