| The first chapter investigates the effects of cash transfer through welfare on the decision by single mothers to have a second child by exploiting heterogeneous effects of welfare time limits that were implemented in the 1990s. My simple theoretical model suggests that welfare induces greater fertility. The interaction between the age of a woman's first child and the exogenous changes in welfare policies is used to determine the potential welfare benefits a woman may receive by bearing a second child. I use these potential welfare benefits to identify the effects of welfare on fertility. My estimation employs the monthly CPS data on single women aged 15-44 with one child and no college degree in the years 1990-2000, and I analyze whether they had another child. The estimated coefficient of interest is not statistically significantly different from zero. However, its confidence interval is close to zero, so I am able to rule out all but the most modest effects of welfare benefits on fertility.;The second chapter studies the effects of inequality in economic development on internal migration in Thailand. Worker migration from rural to urban areas is a well-documented phenomenon that occurs due to disparity in economic opportunities and generates severe population crowding in the Bangkok metropolitan area. I systematically study the mechanism of this migration using microdata from the Thai Censuses of 1980, 1990, and 2000. I use a nested multinomial logit model to estimate the effects of distance and difference in gross provincial product per capita (GPPPC) on migration decisions. The results show that workers prefer to stay close to the home province but also prefer a high-GPPPC province over a low-GPPPC one. A 1,000-Baht increase in the GPPPC, which is roughly 3 percent of a GDP per capita in 1980, increases the likelihood of migrating to a province approximately equivalent to a 10-percent decrease in distance.;The last chapter analyzes the effects on Thai workers of the logging ban that the government of Thailand imposed in 1989. The ban effectively eliminated the logging industry, caused a loss of 0.38% of gross domestic product, and caused high unemployment among unskilled workers. I identify the effects of this ban by comparing changes in output of forestry product within provinces across time. I calculate provincial outcomes from the Thai Censuses of 1990 and 2000 and perform a simple OLS regression of each outcome on the change in the forestry product ratio (FPR) relative to the gross provincial product. I find that the logging ban led 249,000 individuals to migrate between 1990 and 2000. There is also evidence that the forestry workers who did not migrate found new employment in the agriculture or fishing industries. Additionally, I find that the logging ban caused younger and less educated individuals to enter the workforce, presumably to supplement household income that was lost as a result of the ban. Finally, I find that labor force participation of females rose in response to the logging ban. |
