This dissertation comprises three essays examining the labour market decision-making of workers aged 50 and older in Canada and the United States. Older workers make up a large share of the labour force, so understanding their labour market decisions can inform public policy on public pension plans and public health care expenditure. In the first essay, I compare the labour market attachment of workers aged 50 to 69 in the United States and Canada from 1997 to 2019. I utilise the panel structure of the Canadian Labour Force Survey and the US Current Population Survey to create six-month and four-month panels for Canada and the United States, respectively. I use the survey questions on reasons for (1) working part-time and (2) being non-employed (unemployed or not-in-the-labour force) to determine how the reasons provided differ based on age and gender. I also examine the different types of labour force transitions within the panel and how it changes with age and gender. The descriptive results show that workers become less attached to the labour market as they age and have a preference for more short-term, flexible work arrangements. The increase in part-time employment is driven primarily by supply-side factors. Personal preference is the main reason in Canada, while retirement and/or social security earning limits is the main reason in the United States. For the workers marginally attached or not attached to the labour market, the dominant factor seems to be retirement or the ending of short-term jobs.

Housing is well-documented as an important social determinant of health. Inadequate housing quality can lead to negative health outcomes. Two such housing quality factors that impact health include the financial burdens of housing (e.g., housing affordability) and the internal conditions of a home, such as overcrowding. Although housing has been linked to health equity, what is less understood is how these housing characteristics vary by geography, particularly by rural or urban location. Differences in housing characteristics among various demographics of rural and urban adults is one mechanism that can be used to better understand population-level health inequalities, especially among marginalized populations.

The COVID-19 pandemic quickly became a political and health communication crisis whose impact varied by geographic location in the United States. Although local television is known to be an important source of public information, little is known about how it covered the pandemic. We analyze the volume and content of local TV coverage of masks from 758 stations across all 210 U.S. media markets in the first 22 months of the pandemic to assess how often news mentions masks and the extent to which mask wearing is framed as a contentious issue by highlighting controversy and partisan cues. Overall, we find widespread but variable attention to masks throughout the pandemic at levels frequently matching or exceeding the initial coverage of the CDC recommendation to wear face coverings. Controversial coverage of face masks peaks in late summer 2021 at roughly 23%, amid the rise of the new Delta variant, although partisan controversy comprises a relatively small portion of mask-related television news. Case rates, population size and density of the market, and partisanship of the local area are associated with volume and content of mask coverage, but these relationships vary over time. We also find evidence that stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group air fewer stories about masks and more controversy including partisan conflict in their mask coverage. The results add further support to the notion that the messaging surrounding COVID-19 on television varies in part based on geographic location and corresponding demographics but may also vary based upon ideological commitments of station owners.

In this dissertation, I explore Black-white segregation in public schools and in the workplace and the government’s role in perpetuating and mitigating said segregation. I argue that segregation is a social choice and, often through state action, the United States has created and maintained a bifurcated society in which Blacks and whites occupy separate social spaces. Despite the historical legacies of discriminatory government policies, I document contemporary instances in which government action has increased racial integration in public schools and in the workplace. In Chapter 1, I highlight existing explanations of racial segregation in America’s neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. I also provide a host of evidence regarding the consequences of racial segregation, much of which demonstrates that Blacks are segregated in ways that are distinctly disadvantageous for them. In Chapter 2, I examine the impact of school boards on segregation through the drawing of school attendance zones. I use data from the School Area Boundary Survey for the 2013-14 school year coupled with fine-grained GIS census block shapefiles linked to data from the 2010 Decennial Census. Comparing enacted school attendance zones and generated counterfactuals which assign all students to the school in their district nearest to their home, I demonstrate that school boards affect the level of within-district school segregation. Despite expectations that school boards are incentivized to protect exclusive, predominantly white spaces, my findings suggest that school assignment policies are more frequently used as a voluntary measure to pursue greater racial integration. However, I also find that the costs of integration are borne much more by Black students than white students. In Chapter 3, I measure the historical persistence of occupational segregation by race and education to uncover the degree to which differences in human capital explain the relegation of Black workers to roles with less compensation, authority, and mobility. I use data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 U.S. Decennial Censuses and the 2010 and 2019 1-year American Community Survey (ACS) accessed through the University of Minnesota Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). Even after controlling for differences in education, Black workers are in fundamentally different and lower quality occupations than similarly educated whites. Segregation has always been a feature of the American labor market; using a Monte Carlo simulation, I demonstrate that occupational segregation by race is significantly higher than we would expect under race-neutral conditions. In Chapter 4, I examine the role of government as employer and make comparisons between occupational segregation in the public and private sectors over time. Using data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 U.S. Decennial Censuses and the 2010 and 2019 5-year ACS, I find that Black and white employees of federal, state, and local governments have been substantially less segregated than workers in the private sector over the past four decades. While this finding holds for workers who are skilled through alternative routes (STARs) than a bachelor’s degree, public sector workers with a bachelor’s degree or more are as segregated or more segregated than similarly educated workers in the private sector. I also consider whether these differences emerge across all geographies. Among private sector workers, there is no difference in the level of occupational segregation in southern states versus those elsewhere. However, among public sector workers, the South is significantly less segregated than the rest of the country.

This qualitative research investigated the first and second-generation diaspora of West Africa and also examined if there were differences between the two generations. The goal was that if such differences exist, it will help plan the learning experience for students with similar backgrounds. The research used in-depth, open-ended interview questions to collect data for analysis. Forty-one participants were interviewed, and they provided personal insight into the first and second-generation West African immigrants' attitudes to education and the differences between them. The participants included university professors, nurses, K-12 teachers, attorneys, and housewives who reside in Los Angeles County in Southern California. The data the participants provided were coded, analyzed, and categorized. The data showed a positive view of education, the economic value of education, respect for authority, religious beliefs influencing attitude, parental involvement, and the importance of working hard. First and second-generation West African immigrants further claim that their school success results from academic diligence, a positive and respectful attitude, non-confrontational behavior, and family and community support, all consistent with John Ogbu’s (1998) research. The research used the topics from the interview to categorize prominent themes the participants articulated. The percentage of the participants that mention the importance of education shows how views about education continue to be dominant and appear to drive attitudes about education in West African communities. Key findings included the belief that going to school was a plausible way out of poverty, education is the pillar of all success, and turning negative stereotypes into assets by embracing education and attitudes related to achievement. This research highlights some of the challenges first- and second-generation West Africans face in school. They face the dual polar-opposite realities of over-expectation of their abilities in the classroom on the one hand and the other hand, condescension of their being and abilities that may be rooted in prejudice motivated by animosity towards their racial group. This knowledge could benefit teachers and administrators to confront this incompatible duality, evaluate how their curriculum addresses the discrepancy, and reflect on possible strategies to ensure equity, respect, and equal accountability for teachers and their students.

Urban housing markets are characterized by racial sorting, but equilibrium prices respond to marginal buyers and thus may mask underlying preferences for segregation. Large migration shocks can make visible these otherwise infra-marginal preferences. We study the effects of Hurricane Katrina-induced displacement on housing markets in receiving neighborhoods in Texas, where 1 in 5 New Orleanians relocated. Using an event study design, we find that the relocation of 100 additional Katrina survivors to a receiving ZIP code is associated with a 2.2% decline in relative house prices five years after the storm. This effect is driven by responses to movers from predominantly Black origin blocks. We argue that our findings are best explained by a preference for segregation on the part of incumbent White residents. In this case, racial stratification in the effect of a disaster is followed by racial stratification in economic responses.

High-profile political endorsements by scientific publications have become common in recent years, raising concerns about backlash against the endorsing organizations and scientific expertise. In a preregistered large-sample controlled experiment, I randomly assigned participants to receive information about the endorsement of Joe Biden by the scientific journal Nature during the COVID-19 pandemic. The endorsement message caused large reductions in stated trust in Nature among Trump supporters. This distrust lowered the demand for COVID-related information provided by Nature, as evidenced by substantially reduced requests for Nature articles on vaccine efficacy when offered. The endorsement also reduced Trump supporters’ trust in scientists in general. The estimated effects on Biden supporters’ trust in Nature and scientists were positive, small and mostly statistically insignificant. I found little evidence that the endorsement changed views about Biden and Trump. These results suggest that political endorsement by scientific journals can undermine and polarize public confidence in the endorsing journals and the scientific community.

How flooding affects home values can determine the path of economic recovery for communities and have lasting impacts on national and global financial systems. Yet, our understanding of how flood insurance, community risk perception, and past flooding events shape future housing prices (HPs) remains limited. To explore this, we used a socio-environmental (SE) model and studied the temporal impacts of flooding on mean housing values across 496 coastal census tracts of New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, US, from 1970 to 2021. The modeling exercise demonstrated that the initial economic impact of Hurricane Sandy was largely absorbed by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP); however, the region then exhibited a long-term decline in home values, which was well described by an interrupted time series model. We found significant correlations between SE model parameters describing HP change and those describing tract-scale behaviors and perceptions, suggesting that the salience of past flooding events and NFIP participation may be important regional drivers of HPs. Tracts with greater post-flood change in active insurance policies exhibited larger decreases in mean home values than those with more stable NFIP participation. An improved understanding of relationships between HPs, flood insurance, and community perceptions could support more equitable distributions of resources and improved policy interventions to reduce flooding risk.

Drawing on techniques more commonly used to study changes within families over time, this paper highlights how holistic life course methods can help scholars conceptualize the dynamic nature of local built environments and measure impacts for families and communities. I use a novel dataset on the historical availability of banks, credit unions, and alternative financial services (AFS) between 2003 and 2015 to classify neighborhoods by their financial service trajectories using sequence and cluster analyses. I identify six distinct trajectories of financial service availability over the 13-year period; neighborhoods in these trajectories differ in terms of their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Descriptive multivariate analyses confirm that trajectories are linked to community outcomes at the end of the period; tracts exposed to AFS at some point over the 13 years are associated with higher predicted end-of-period poverty rates compared to both tracts that are only exposed to banks and credit unions and tracts that are chronic financial service deserts. Extensions of this approach to other aspects of the built environment are discussed.

During the 2021 pandemic year, the generosity of Unemployment Insurance benefits was expanded (Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation [FPUC]) and eligibility for benefits was broadened (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance [PUA]). These two programs were set to expire in September 2021. In June 2021, 18 states exited both FPUC and PUA and three states exited FPUC (but not PUA). Using Current Population Survey data and a wide range of estimation methods, we find that the flow of unemployed workers into employment increased by around two-thirds following early exit among prime-age workers. We also find evidence of reductions in state-level unemployment rates, increases in employment-populations ratios, and reductions in the share of households that had no difficulty meeting expenses.

We document that, since 1980, higher-paying occupations in the United States have experienced increases in the importance of tasks requiring social skills compared to lower-paying ones. Economic theory indicates that the occupational sorting of workers depends on their comparative advantage in performing occupational tasks. Hence, changes in the relative importance of tasks across occupations change sorting. We document that the increasing relative importance of social tasks in high-paying occupations can account for an important fraction of the increased sorting of women relative to men towards these occupations in recent decades.

Artificial intelligence (AI) recently gained new attention with the release of ChatGPT and Dall- E. These tools and the broader array of AI- driven business applications represent a new reality for workers.

Recipiency of tax or transfer benefits in the United States often depends on marital status, creating complicated incentives that reward marriage for some and penalize it for others. Same-sex couples, who only recently gained the right to marry, now face the same marriage incentives that different-sex couples faced for decades. We highlight marriage incentives affecting older couples, who have rarely been studied. Using the American Community Survey, we estimate decreases in marriage among older, previously married women, which are consistent with remarriage disincentives from Social Security and marriage disincentives from Medicaid that are more salient for women.

We are far from a complete understanding of the social determinants of mortality in the United States. Despite the longstanding interest in racial and class-based inequalities in health and mortality in the United States, research is often hampered by data limitations. However, new advances in data linkage have allowed mortality researchers to construct administrative datasets with millions of mortality records and demographic covariates. The unprecedented scale and richness of these administrative datasets allow social scientists to make new discoveries into the contours of mortality disparities in the United States. This dissertation is comprised of three studies of mortality using large-scale, linked U.S. Census and administrative death records. In my second chapter, I investigate the relationship between owning a home in early adulthood and life expectancy, demonstrating that owning a home in early adulthood has a causal effect on life expectancy. My second study assesses the predictability of individual-level longevity, demonstrating the challenges of predicting individual-level mortality. The final study of the dissertation examines the Black-White crossover, finding evidence that the crossover is not a data artifact and cannot be uncrossed using sociodemographic variables alone.

This thesis explores the intricate relationships between fertility, labor supply, and wage outcomes for women, with a particular focus on the implications for mothers. Utilizing a range of methodological approaches, the research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how fertility and parenting decisions shape economic outcomes and contribute to existing wage disparities. The first chapter employs an instrumental variable approach, using twin births at first parity, to investigate the causal impact of fertility on the labor supply of married women. The second chapter builds on this by dissecting the "motherhood penalty" in wages, employing a dynamic life-cycle model to examine how this penalty varies by educational attainment. The third chapter adopts a continuous-time optimal control theory and Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman partial differential equations to model the joint processes of child ability and human capital accumulation. This chapter offers insights into how mothers balance the trade-offs between career development and child-rearing. Across these diverse yet interconnected studies, the thesis contributes to the existing literature by offering a nuanced and methodologically rigorous exploration of the economic implications of fertility and parenting decisions. The findings have significant policy implications, particularly in areas related to gender equality, labor market regulation, and family planning.

We exploit state-level variation in the enforcement of covenants not to compete (CNCs) to study the effect of labor mobility on corporate investment and performance over the business cycle. We find that relative to firms located in states with stronger enforcement of CNCs, investment rates are more procyclical in states with weaker enforcement of CNCs, especially for more labor-intensive firms, firms facing greater competition for local workers, and firms with greater demand for skilled workers. Increased investment during economic expansions largely drives these effects, and firms appear to finance this additional investment by raising debt and equity. Higher investment rates in more mobile labor markets during expansions are also associated with higher sales growth rates, profits, and valuations. Our findings suggest that fewer restrictions on labor mobility benefit firms during economic expansions because greater mobility allows firms to take advantage of new growth opportunities by making it easier to hire qualified workers with relevant experience.

Background: The consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) has been linked to the global epidemic of obesity and chronic disease .Following the economic growth, urbanization, and attractive market for beverage companies, the consumption of Sugar sweetened beverage is a rising public health challenge in low and middle-income countries. There is a paucity of evidence on the prevalence and factors associated with the consumption of SSBs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from IPUM-PMA with a total sample of 4822 women aged 10-49 years old in Burkina Faso and Kenya. After accessing the data from the IPUM-PMA website data re-coding, and labeling were done and analysed using STATA Version 14. Mixed effect logistic regression model was employed to identify associated factors. Result: Almost half (49.08%) [44.65, 53.53] of women consumed sugar-sweetened beverages. Primary education (AOR = 1.27; 95%CI: 1.01 – 1.59), secondary education (AOR = 1.47; 95%CI: 1.15 – 1.87), employment status (AOR = 1.22; 95%CI: 1.01 – 1.48),consumption of savory and fried snack(AOR=1.64, ;95%CI=1.29 – 2.07 ,achieved minimum dietary diversity (AOR = 1.77; 95%CI: 1.50 – 2.08) ,highest wealth score (AOR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.18) , moderate household food insecurity (AOR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.62, 0.97), and sever household food insecurity (AOR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.61, 0.91) were statistically significantly association with Sugar-Sweetened Beverage consumption. Conclusion: Consumption of SSBs among women in Africa is increasing and associated with high socio-economic class. Tailored public health intervention targeting middle to high-income groups will help curb the rise in the burden of morbidity and mortality following obesity and other non-communicable diseases among women in Africa.

The spatial patterning of present-day racial bias in Southern states is predicted by the prevalence of slavery in 1860 and the structural inequalities that followed. Here we extend the investigation of the historical roots of implicit bias to areas outside the South by tracing the Great Migration of Black southerners to Northern and Western states. We found that the proportion of Black residents in each county (N = 1,981 counties) during the years of the Great Migration (1900–1950) was significantly associated with greater implicit bias among White residents today. The association was statistically explained by measures of structural inequalities. Results parallel the pattern seen in Southern states but reflect population changes that occurred decades later as cities reacted to larger Black populations. These findings suggest that implicit biases reflect structural inequalities and the historical conditions that produced them.

Despite their crucial role in our economy and society, care workers have long been neglected, and their contributions undervalued (Kinder 2020). Even after the pandemic made this critical role clearer than ever, care workers have experienced one of the most incomplete economic recoveries post-pandemic. The care workforce—consisting of childcare workers, health-care and personal support workers, and residential advisors—was one of the hardest- hit sectors of the economy during the pandemic and has yet to fully recover: Compared with pre-pandemic employment levels, more than 230,000 care workers are still missing from the labor market. This brief argues that the continued growth and stability of the US economy will require government to rethink how it responds to America’s collective care needs.1 Employment in care work is a vital component of the US economy and not just because the availability of care services enables individuals with care responsibilities to participate in the labor market. Currently, there are more than 4.8 million workers who provide us with childcare and eldercare, and attend to our health and disabilities. Adding teachers to the care workforce sums to 12.2 million workers—representing about 7.6 percent of total employment.2 Yet, the extent to which their work is undervalued and underpaid creates financial instability for care workers and risk for our entire economy.

Some population groups are more likely to acquire an infection or to experience a severe outcome in case of disease due to risk factors that may not be randomly distributed in the population. Some of these factors are related to demographic characteristics and structures (e.g. age, sex, household composition), which typically are incorporated in the host population in models of infectious disease transmission, though often in a highly simplified manner. Demographic structures, however, result from complex demographic processes that tend to change over time. In the context of infectious disease epidemiology, it is not well understood how these underlying processes shape current and future population structures with relevance for the transmission and burden of infectious diseases. For that reason, the aim of this dissertation was to explore and improve infectious disease models with dynamic host populations with the purpose of investigating the impact of demographic structures and changes on the transmission and burden of infectious diseases transmitted through close contact. With the advantages and limitations of the existing literature in mind, we developed a demographic microsimulation for an age- and household-structured population, tailored for applications in infectious disease modelling. We specifically simulated the Belgian population and considered the demographic processes of fertility, mortality, migration and household transitions. The microsimulation was extended by a disease transmission model for emerging infectious diseases. The age and household structures had an impact on the disease transmission dynamics, but the magnitude of the relationship depended on epidemiological heterogeneity in the population. Moreover, the size and composition of households were crucial for explaining how the infection spread at the individual, household and population level. In a second application of the microsimulation, we investigated how population ageing affects the mortality burden of respiratory infections. The disease transmission model was modified to resemble the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and novel influenza A virus. We focused on the living arrangements in the older adult population, as the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, has had a disproportionate impact on those living in LTCFs. Similarly, we found that this relatively small population group, which is often disregarded in infectious disease modelling, faced a markedly higher risk of infection in our simulations and accounted for a substantial share of the burden of mortality associated with the respiratory infections. The burden of future epidemics increased with the ageing of the population, but the magnitude of this relationship depended on the living arrangements and general health in the older adult population.