Three Essays in Applied Microeconomics: Medicaid Expansion, CEMENT Coauthorship Networks, and Occupational Licensing

Abstract

ABSTRACT This dissertation includes three essays in applied microeconomics, which is a fundamental outward-looking branch of economics that applies both economics theories and methodologies to actual questions of individual behavior and societal outcomes. The three essays are focusing on real world topics of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, female economists’ collaboration networks and occupations licensing. In the first essay, using the restricted NHANES data from 2007 to 2014, effects of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion on three public health measures are examined by comparing expansion states with non-expansion states. The results show that the Medicaid expansion in 2014 decreases the systolic blood pressure and increases the usage of cholesterol lowering medication, however, no significant effects on diabetes measures. It is also confirmed that the ACA’s Medicaid expansion increases the total health and Medicaid coverage. In the second essay, a unique randomized control trial of CEMENT workshop is examined to investigate its effect on female economists’ collaboration networks. The CEMENT workshop provides a particular opportunity to observe female economists’ career accomplishments and research productivity in the program. The results show that the participating female economics scholars publish about one more paper and have about 0.5 more numbers of unique coauthors on average, comparing to the control group. The CEMENT workshop helps the treated female economists improve their research productivity and expand the magnitude of their collaboration networks. The last essay studies the effects of occupational licensing on non-U.S. citizen’s labor market outcomes, using the monthly CPS Job Certification data from 2015 to 2019. Non-U.S. citizens are found to be less likely to have job certificates or licenses. Compared to licensed U.S. natives, non-U.S. citizens are still suffering from a wage penalty even if with job certificates or licenses.