Date of Award
2017
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate Group
Economics
First Advisor
Holger Sieg
Abstract
This dissertation consists of three chapters on topics in public economics. The
first chapter examines the labor market for public school teachers in Wisconsin. By
stitching together publicly available cross-sectional data to form a 20-year panel of
teachers, I am able to replicate and extend the work of Hanushek, Kain and Rivkin
who performed a similar analysis in Texas. The main takeaway is that teachers ap-
pear to select on wages, but that student characteristics appear more important in
predicting teacher churn. In the second chapter, I present short-term analysis of a
randomized-controlled trial designed to test the efficacy of active learning methods
for teaching intermediate calculus to first-year college students. The results were in-
conclusive, suggesting substantial heterogeneity in student preferences and aptitudes
for different styles of learning. The final chapter presents the analysis of a large-scale
randomized-controlled trial evaluating the potential for messaging-based nudges to
elicit increased real estate tax compliance in Philadelphia. Our primary conclusions
are that most proposed messaging strategies are indistinguishable from a plainly-
worded reminder bill (the exception being consequentialist letters threatening repercussive
action absent compliance), but that the saliency per se of a plainly-worded
bill can induce late payers to remunerate more quickly.
Recommended Citation
Chirico, Michael, "Essays In Public Economics" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2222.
https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2222