Job Market Paper
Abstract
This paper studies the effect of prenatal radiation exposure
on educational attainment and the live-birth sex ratio in the United States. I
consider the aboveground nuclear tests in the 1960s as a natural experiment and
find that an increase in radiation exposure in the second prenatal quarter,
which covers the most radiosensitive gestational period, is associated with a significant
decrease in years of education. A model is developed to address the measurement
error in prenatal radiation due to misreported birth year in the data. It is
shown that under reasonable assumptions, the estimated effect of prenatal
radiation exposure on educational attainment is downward-biased. I also find
that the live-birth ratio of males to females following a year with higher
radiation exposure drops significantly, which supports the theory of
gender-biased spontaneous abortion in response to radiation exposure.
Working Paper
"Do Taller Mice Bell the Cat? The Effect of Height on Wage and Early Career"
Abstract
Height is known to be associated with wage income. Literature has attributed the height premium to the correlation between height and underlying abilities. This paper further investigates the role of height in wage dynamics in early stage of career and the the height premium gap between black and white workers. Using data from the NLSY79, I find that height takes effect on the wage profile in a post-entry manner. The post-entry height effect can be attributed to a "bell-the-cat" channel, where tall workers are more recognized and identified in the workplace, and thus their abilities are revealed faster. The "bell-the-cat" hypothesis is supported by the finding that height affects the speed of employer learning on various abilities, as well as the probability of switching occupations and upward movements in occupational status in early career. I also show that the black-white height premium can be explained by potential omitted variables more efficiently and that there is a height-based selection for black workers into occupations.
Height is known to be associated with wage income. Literature has attributed the height premium to the correlation between height and underlying abilities. This paper further investigates the role of height in wage dynamics in early stage of career and the the height premium gap between black and white workers. Using data from the NLSY79, I find that height takes effect on the wage profile in a post-entry manner. The post-entry height effect can be attributed to a "bell-the-cat" channel, where tall workers are more recognized and identified in the workplace, and thus their abilities are revealed faster. The "bell-the-cat" hypothesis is supported by the finding that height affects the speed of employer learning on various abilities, as well as the probability of switching occupations and upward movements in occupational status in early career. I also show that the black-white height premium can be explained by potential omitted variables more efficiently and that there is a height-based selection for black workers into occupations.
