Essays in Public Economics and Labor Economics

Abstract

This dissertation is comprised of three chapters. The first two chapters study gender inequality in earnings and its childhood roots. The first chapter studies the determinants of motherhood penalties in earnings. It focuses on childhood environment, the location where women spend their childhood. Childhood environment can influence human capital development opportunities and social norms. This study separates the role played by the childhood environment from the role of parents. The second chapter studies what happens when a dimension of the childhood environment is modified, i.e. the availability of childcare. The effects of an increase in childcare availability on the earnings after childbirth of women who were children at the time of the reform is studied. The third chapter studies the introduction of a tax credit for low-income workers and its spillovers through firms on the wage earnings of ineligible workers.