Essays in Labor and Public Economics

Authors

Simon Jäger, Harvard University

Award Type

First Prize

Dissertation Advisor

Lawrence Katz

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three independent essays in labor and public economics. The first presents evidence on the substitutability between workers within a firm, and between incumbent workers and outsiders, which matter for understanding the operation of internal labor markets and the consequences of worker turnover. The second chapter proposes a permutation test for the Regression Kink design—an increasingly popular empirical method for causal inference. The third chapter analyzes a laboratory experiment to study how tax complexity affects people's reactions to tax changes.

Link to dissertation full text