This dissertation examines the impact of state educational programs on the economics of education and labor, focusing on the New York State (NYS) STEM Incentive Program and China's tuition-free policy for vocational secondary education (VSE). The first two Chapters analyze the effects of the NYS STEM Incentive Program, an initiative implemented in…

Many school districts across the United States face severe shortages of high school science and mathematics teachers. Moreover, college graduates that major in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) field face unique opportunity costs when deciding to enter the teaching field. An analysis of the opportunity costs faced by STEM…

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…

Human capital production is central to economic wellbeing from a national perspective: it improves productivity, spurs technological innovation, and promotes sustainable economic growth over time. Equally important, investments in human capital are central to economic wellbeing at the individual level. College graduates tend to earn more money,…

The present study examined the extent to which the U.S. STEM labor market is stratified in terms of quality of employment. Through a series of cluster analyses and Chi-square tests on data drawn from the 2008 Survey of Income Program Participation (SIPP), the study found evidence of segmentation in the highly-skilled STEM and non-STEM samples,…

This study investigated two major sources of influence (institution and individual characteristics) on the earnings of graduate degree recipients. These factors have been shown in previous research to influence the initial earnings of graduates at the undergraduate level. This research seeks to build on previous studies by Perna (2003, 2005) that…