Economists have long recognized the importance of human capital in economic growth. In this series of papers, I study how various institutions of human capital formation affected economic development in a variety of contexts prior to 1900. These include both formal institutions of human capital formation such as universities and informal…

The literature base on teacher effectiveness has rapidly expanded in the past decade. Once dominated by social scientists, the literature is now heavily influenced by economists. Utilizing value-added modeling, economists have mainstreamed attempts to isolate the effect that a teacher has on student achievement. Findings from these attempts,…

Many goods carry health risks that have important impacts on demand and behavior. However, the risks are rarely transparent and, as a result, consumers often have incomplete knowledge of the health risks associated with many of their consumption decisions. This can lead to inefficient behavior. With that in mind, economists have studied the…

In the last three decades, there has been a growing concern regarding the dearth of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) degree attainment for women. Women are considered the untapped resource with an affinity towards STEM fields; however, they tend to be absent in higher education commencements across the country. After nearly…

Vagueness is semantic indecision, David Lewis said. This dissertation vindicates this insight by applying social choice theory, the branch of economics concerning collective decision making, to account for linguistic vagueness. Vagueness effects are analogues to cycles that sometimes arise in collective decisions. Cycles (e.g. A is preferred to B…

Economic development through technological advancement is a phenomenon that for many decades brought economic prosperity, increased wealth, and (by extension) social change to citizens of the world. However, economists and development specialists have consistently challenged the inequitable distribution of this wealth between the countries of the…

The focus on the achievement gap for minority students is an issue facing many school districts across the county. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation highlighted the fact that many minority students are not achieving at or above expected levels in classrooms across America. Teacher quality is found to be an important ingredient of a…

Economics education has been a topic of research interest to many economists. In addition, the philosophical and ethical content of economics and its role in economics education has been an issue of discussion. Chapter 1 of my dissertation addresses what topics should be ignored in a principles of microeconomics class, what the goal of the…

While "ability" has long featured prominently in economic models and empirical studies of labor markets, economists have only recently begun to consider how personality and attitudes--noncognitive factors--influence behavior both from a theoretical and empirical standpoint. This dissertation incorporates noncognitive factors into…