Applied Microeconomics
Applied Microeconomics
The Applied Microeconomics research group unites researchers working on a broad array of topics within such areas as labour economics, economics of education, health economics, family economics, urban economics, environmental economics, and the economics of science and innovation. The group operates in close collaboration with the CAGE Research Centre.
The group participates in the CAGE seminar on Applied Economics, which runs weekly on Tuesdays at 2:15pm. Students and faculty members of the group present their ongoing work in two brown bag seminars, held weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1pm. Students, in collaboration with faculty members, also organise a bi-weekly reading group in applied econometrics on Thursdays at 1pm. The group organises numerous events throughout the year, including the Research Away Day and several thematic workshops.
Our activities
Work in Progress seminars
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1-2pm
Students and faculty members of the group present their work in progress in two brown bag seminars. See below for a detailed scheduled of speakers.
Applied Econometrics reading group
Thursdays (bi-weekly) 1-2pm
Organised by students in collaboration with faculty members. See the Events calendar below for further details
People
Academics
Academics associated with the Applied Microeconomics Group are:
Research Students
Events
Economic History Seminar - Shari Eli (Toronto)
Shari will present the paper titled
Do Youth Employment Programs Work? Evidence from the New Deal
Abstract: We study the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – the first and largest youth training program in
the U.S. in operation between 1933 and 1942 – to provide the first comprehensive assessment of
the short- and long-term effects of means-tested youth employment programs. We use digitized
enrollee records from the CCC program in Colorado and New Mexico and matched these records
to the 1940 Census, WWII enlistment records, Social Security Administration records, and death
certificates. We find that enrollees who spent more time in CCC training grew taller, lived longer
lives and had higher lifetime earnings as a result of their participation in the program. We also
find modest increases in the educational attainment of the participants and increases in short term
geographic mobility. In contrast, we find no evidence that their labor force participation or wages
increased in the short run. To assess the internal and external validity of the results, we compare
our estimates to those derived from a randomized evaluation of Job Corps, the modern version of
the CCC, conducted in the 1990s. The RCT’s results show that our empirical strategy delivers
estimates that are in line with the experimental estimates. Overall, we find significant long-term
benefits in both longevity and earnings, suggesting short and medium-term evaluations
underestimate the returns of training programs, as do those that fail to consider effects on
longevity.
Organisers: Bishnupriya Gupta & Claudia Rei