This dissertation consists of three chapters that study individual investment in human capital and the incidence of economic shocks. I use administrative data to answer these questions, developing and applying structural methods to analyze individual choices in combination with a careful consideration of research design. Chapter 1 studies the…

In the United States, there has been recent attention to mergers involving higher education institutions. The fact is that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are not a novel topic but more common in business. The paper will present the findings of a case study of the merger of two Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Texas and how leadership…

This dissertation contains three chapters, each investigating a question in American economic history. The first chapter is co-authored with Ran Abramitzky, Santiago Perez, and Joseph Price. In this work, we conduct a large-scale digitization of historical college registers, encompassing 2.7 million students at 65 elite US universities. We use…

Human capital theory suggests that lifetime income and socioeconomic status is a function of investments in human capital (Becker, 1962 & 1994; Becker & Tomes, 1986; Tomes, 1981). More recent developments show that human capital accumulation depends on mental health (Fletcher, 2008), in addition to ability, and access to resources to…

Chapter 1 studies the change in women's college major choices in response to the dot-com crash. Although the dot-com crash had similar labor market effects for new graduates in engineering and computer science, it had different effects on who chose each major: women disproportionately left computer science, but not engineering. I investigate the…

Registered apprenticeship (RA) programs have emerged in recent years in response to the nation's critical workforce needs. Since 2015, there has been a resurgence of federal and state investments to modernize and diversify the RA system to attract new entrants and new high-demand industries. This study uses human capital theory (HCT) as a lens for…

In this dissertation, I explore how international migration and environmental pollution shape human capital accumulation and labor market outcomes.The first chapter examines how college enrollment and major choice decisions of young adults in migrant-sending countries are affected by the removal of international migration barriers. My…

The first two chapters of my dissertation paper detail the role of work-inducing welfare policies on single mother's human capital formation. These chapters focus on the two most important work-inducing policies that have transformed the welfare program in the United States from an out-work to an in-work assistance program: (1) welfare reform in…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is an exploratory study to examine what contributes to the failure of the persistence of non-residential single-parents pursuing a college degree. The participants of this study included ten non-residential single-parent students between the ages of 21 and 50. The site of the interviews was in the…

Wage differentials across college majors are huge and have been increasing. The type of college education becomes important for college students in terms of future earnings. Understanding the treatment effect of major choice in a certain occupation is difficult because of the sorting behavior and the effect of occupation choice. In order to…

This study investigated relationships between student's Collegiate DECA commitment, psychological capital, mentoring, and perceived career commitment. Proposed relationships were supported with several psychological theories and frameworks including Organizational Commitment, Psychological Capital, and Social Identity Theory. Data was…

Higher education institutions in Ghana are challenged in providing access to affordable education to accommodate all qualified students for postsecondary education. Most Ghanaian students seek skills and knowledge to prepare them for a global workforce. The study's purpose was to investigate the adaptation of the U.S. community college's 2-year…

This dissertation is comprised of two essays that broadly consider the role human capital plays in the matching process between individuals and institutions and builds on prior education literature that has found growing evidence that economic choices and opportunities are inextricably linked to human capital investment. The essays in this…

Chapter 2: The Role of Class Difficulty in College Grade Point Averages. Grade Point Averages (GPAs) are widely used as a measure of college students' ability. Low GPAs can remove a students from eligibility for scholarships, and even continued enrollment at a university. However, GPAs are determined not only by student ability but also by the…

The purpose of this research was to explore the challenges of access for first-generation Hispanic college students in a postsecondary institution on the southwest Texas-Mexico border. According to the U.S. Census (2010) between 2000 and 2010, over a ten-year span, Hispanics increased by 41.8% representing 37.6% of the population in Texas. Yet,…