Book Description

This dissertation is comprised of three self-contained empirical chapters, each exploring how individuals in developing countries navigate their labor markets. In my first chapter, I study the impact of a migration boom on investment in education by Nepalese youths. I find that opportunities to migrate have had a negative impact on attainment of education, which calls attention of policy-makers to design programs that incentive schooling. In the second chapter, I study the value of political connections to labor market outcomes. I find evidence of additional human capital investment and improved labor market outcomes due to political connections. In the third chapter, I compare the earnings growth of individuals in Indonesia who remained in formal employment (salaried workers employed in firms with five or more workers) and those who switched into non-formal jobs. The research indicates that slow job creation had a significant impact on the welfare displaced workers. Each of these chapters deals with an aspect of the labor market that is common across many developing countries. Changing economic incentives, political contexts, and globalization all contribute to individual decisions and outcomes that have consequences for welfare in poor countries. By better understanding the relationship between the characteristics of the labor markets and individual decisions and outcomes, we can hope to develop policies that maximize the ability of developing countries' labor markets to facilitate the process of economic development.