Essays in Education Economics and Family Economics

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dc.contributor.committeeMemberCunha, Flavioen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberCalvi, Rossellaen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberTang, Xunen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberPerrigne, Isabelleen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberThirkettle, Matthewen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberFiel, Jeremyen_US
dc.creatorHu, Qinyouen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-22T15:53:00Zen_US
dc.date.created2024-05en_US
dc.date.issued2024-04-18en_US
dc.date.submittedMay 2024en_US
dc.date.updated2024-05-22T15:53:00Zen_US
dc.descriptionEMBARGO NOTE: This item is embargoed until 2026-05-01en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation contains three chapters in the fields of development economics and labor economics. In the first chapter, I highlight the social impact of empathy on school bullying reduction. I collect unique data by conducting a randomized control trial---a parent-directed empathy education intervention in middle schoolers in China. Program evaluation shows it reduces bullying by indirectly changing the network structure, making bullies less popular in the classrooms. I estimate a unified framework incorporating an empathy production function, a network formation model, and a social interaction model of the final bullying outcomes. I find that the social channel of empathy accounts for almost half of its human capital effect. Policy counterfactuals suggest that targeting bullies’ friends is more effective than targeting bullies directly. The second chapter (co-authored with Flavio Cunha, Yiming Xia, and Naibao Zhao) provides the context and a comprehensive introduction to the empathy intervention program. The program leads to more parental investment and higher empathy levels. Using a state-of-the-art generalized random forest method, we find more reductions in bullying for those with lower parental investment and academic stress. Cost analysis shows that reducing one bullying incident costs $16.30 for the intervention, suggesting a scalable and low-cost strategy to inform public policy on bullying prevention in other similar settings. In the third chapter, I develop a new approach to identify intrahousehold resource allocation and the extent of joint consumption for extended families using a collective household model. It allows for endogenous living arrangement decisions with fewer data requirements. Application to nationally representative household survey data in China reveals that the elderly are allocated the least resource shares, and women tend to be more altruistic in consumption sharing than men. I also confirm that co-residence households enjoy economic efficiency gains compared to nuclear households, but there is still room for explanations on why multi-generations choose to live together.en_US
dc.embargo.lift2026-05-01en_US
dc.embargo.terms2026-05-01en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.citationHu, Qinyou. Essays in Education Economics and Family Economics. (2024). PhD diss., Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/116169en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/116169en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectHuman capitalen_US
dc.subjectSocial interactionsen_US
dc.subjectBullyingen_US
dc.subjectField experimenten_US
dc.subjectIntrahousehold inequalityen_US
dc.subjectChinaen_US
dc.titleEssays in Education Economics and Family Economicsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentEconomicsen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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