Three essays on applied microeconomics

Abstract

The dissertation contributes to the sub-disciplines of economics including Behavioral, Development and International Trade, and to a lesser extent, Environmental, Energy, and Health Economics. A common thread among all three empirical papers is the use of quantitative measures, instead of proxies, to quantify impacts or results. In the first dissertation paper, the authors quantify the main outcome indicators- wood usage, carbon monoxide inhalation, and solar oven usage with actual observed quantities. In the second paper the author uses a new trade costs model which derives international trade costs directly from observed trade flows for 26 nations. The model measures bilateral trade costs without making any assumption on the trade costs function and allows for economists to measure all the trade costs associated -both indirect and direct- with bringing a good to market. The third paper is able to evaluate peer effects on solar oven adoption by using an observed social network between women and their friends. The author uses observed solar oven usage data, measured by a microchip, and is able to measure peer effects by regressing the treatment group’s solar stove usage on that of the solar stove usage of her “Strong” and “Weak” friends who are in the treatment group. In each of the three works, the direct data on solar stove outcome indicators, international trade costs, and information networks allows the author to contribute to the recent small, but growing literature using observed micro-data to measure quantitatively a natural phenomenon in economics.