This dissertation examines several topics in applied microeconomics. The first two chapters examine the effects of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) availability in Zambia on demand for HIV testing and of ART-induced testing on demand for risky behavior. A simple model of demand for HIV testing and for risky behavior indicates that in the absence of ART those individuals most likely to take a HIV test are individuals that are expected to reduce their post-testing risky behavior the most. Introducing ART into this model only serves to further select these same types of individuals to test at even higher rates. Newly assembled data from Zambia indicate testing behavior prior to the introduction of ART is consistent with the first prediction of the model. However, the testing response to the introduction of ART is not consistent with the second prediction of the model. The existence of a non-random rationing mechanism determining the allocation of ART may explain this finding. Simulation results indicate that eliminating this non-random rationing mechanism while keeping fixed the total quantity of ART supplied would improve the prevention impact of ART-induced testing by more than ten-fold. The third chapter examines ethnic (migrant) labor market networks in the American Midwest when it was first being settled in the middle of the 19th century, the endogenous emergence of a sense of local identity that helped support the functioning of these networks, and how this sense of local identity may have persisted across multiple generations and affect economic outcomes in the late 20th century. The empirical analysis indicates that counties with greater ethnic fractionalization in 1860 are indeed associated with steadily increasing participation in select religious denominations historically dominated by migrants all the way through the twentieth century. Complementing this result, individuals born in high fractionalization counties are significantly less likely to select into geographically mobile professional occupations and, hence, to migrate out of their county of birth, despite the fact that these counties are indistinguishable from low fractionalization counties in terms of local public good provision and economic activity today.
Wilson, Nicholas Logan,
"Essays in Applied Microeconomics"
(2008).
Economics Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0RF5S9T
