Abstract

I examine and evaluate the economic impacts of policies using various datasets and econometrics models. In the first two papers, I focus on the electricity market and in the last paper, I explore the labor market.In my first project, I study the implications of incorporating renewable energy, especially wind power, into the electricity system. I focus on estimating the additional costs required to maintain reliability. Wind has been regarded as an integral part of the transition to a sustainable future because of its zero greenhouse gas emissions and low cost. However, the extra challenges of integrating a large amount of wind power may be overlooked by the policy makers. Driven variation in weather, the level of output from wind generation isunpredictable and intermittent. This may put strain on conventional generation to ensure that supply meets demand at real time. In this paper, I propose a systematic framework to measure the costs related to wind intermittency using publicly available data in Texas.In my second project, I analyze the role of financial players in the electricity market using data from Texas. After deregulations in the US electricity wholesale market, Day-ahead Market (DAM) was introduced, along with firms without generation capabilities to participateas well. Those players, including banks and investment management companies, entered the forward market to trade virtually. However, the role of the financial players on the electricity market is not clear. In particular, it is ambiguous whether or not those players canbring in valuable information. I identify the economic impacts on market efficiency using multiple instrument variables (IVs) including stock indices, and explore the heterogeneity of the results under different market conditions.In my third project, I investigate the impact of major expansions of parental leave policy using data from Australia. Broadly speaking, there are two types of parental leave policies: unpaid entitlement and paid leave. Australia experienced consecutive changes in both types of policy from 2009 to 2011. Therefore, I am able to estimate several difference-in-difference (DiD) models to identify and compare the effects, not only on women after birth giving, but also all women in the childbearing ages. Apart from the conventional measures, such as weekly wages, working hours, unemployment rate, etc., I also include qualitative measures on womenճ welfare. I further narrow down the study to various subgroups, such as women with low education, to check the heterogeneity of the impact.

Committee Chair

Joseph Marcus . Cullen Berliant

Committee Members

Ian Fillmore, Paulo Natenzon, Robert Pollak, Carl Sanders,

Comments

Permanent URL: 2018-08-15

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Author's Department

Economics

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

Summer 8-15-2018

Language

English (en)

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Available for download on Monday, August 15, 2118

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Economics Commons

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