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Út 23.07.2024
Ella Sargsyan: Essays in Development Economics
Dissertation Committee:
Nikolas Mittag (CERGE-EI, chair)
Michal Bauer (CERGE-EI)
Štěpán Jurajda (CERGE-EI)
Vasily Korovkin (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Jan Švejnar (Columbia University)
Defense Committee:
Stanislav Anatolyev (CERGE-EI, chair)
Sebastian Ottinger (CERGE-EI)
Štěpán Mikula (Masaryk University)
Referees:
Stefano Fiorin (Bocconi University)
Michael Poyker (University of Texas at Austin)
Room 402.
Link for online connection: https://call.lifesizecloud.com/21559134, passcode: 4667
Abstract:
This dissertation investigates effective household coping strategies during profound economic shocks, as well as the impact of violent conflicts and natural disasters on parents' child gender preferences in developing countries.
In light of rising concerns about food insecurity caused by a variety of crises, the first chapter investigates effective coping strategies households can employ to mitigate the lasting impacts of income shocks and associated nutrition deficits. We uncover a previously unexplored coping mechanism – home production – and establish the extent of its effectiveness in mitigating the negative effects of crises on child health. To do so, we focus on the transition period after the collapse of the Soviet Union and investigate the role of household production of potatoes. Specifically, utilizing individual-level data from Russia, Kazakhstan, and other post-Soviet countries and exploiting the variation in the soil suitability index, we establish that households that grew potatoes on land more suitable for their cultivation were able to reduce the negative effects of transition shock on the health of their children as measured by adult height and height-for-age z-score. Our findings suggest that targeted nutritional interventions are needed to mitigate long-term adverse health impacts on children in times of catastrophic economic shocks, particularly in areas where households face limitations in home production.
The second chapter explores whether and how long-run exposure to violent conflicts contributes to and shapes the child gender preferences of parents. To conduct the analysis, I use temporal and spatial variations in conflicts in Nigeria and combine the Uppsala Conflict Data Program and the Demographic and Health Surveys Program. The results show that the effect of long-run exposure to violent conflicts on stated preferences (attitudes) for boys is not homogeneous. While conflict events with low or no civilian deaths increase preferences for sons, violence targeted at civilians works in the opposite direction and decreases preferences for boys. I find no evidence of translating these preferences into behaviour via sex-selective abortions. Instead, evidence shows that parents use the stopping rule to achieve the desired gender composition of children. Further, my analysis also indicates that, in the districts affected by conflict, parents have a positive bias towards boys in terms of their postnatal health investment.
The final chapter investigates the enduring effects of natural disasters on parental gender preferences, focusing on the activated memory of the 1988 Armenian Earthquake. This chapter proposes a novel explanation for skewed sex ratios, suggesting that natural disasters can exert enduring effects on women's child gender preferences. Leveraging data from four rounds of Demographic and Health Surveys in Armenia and exploiting the plausible exogeneity of interview timing, my research uncovers a significant impact of the reactivated memory of the 1988 Armenian Earthquake on women's stated preferences for male children. Specifically, women interviewed on or around December 7 – the day marking the earthquake victims' commemoration – express a 3-percentage-point higher preference for sons. Further analysis reveals that women from the most affected region, Shirak, exhibit an even stronger preference for boys, with a noteworthy 12-percentage-point increase. These effects are particularly pronounced among women who are already mothers, suggesting a lasting imprint of the earthquake's memory on child gender preferences.
Full Text: "Essays in Development Economics"
Journal Articles CZ FIX THE LINKS
Altmejd, Adam, Andrés Barrios-Fernández, Marin Drlje, Joshua Goodman, Michael Hurwitz, Dejan Kovac, Christine Mulhern, Christopher Neilson, and Jonathan Smith. 2021. “O Brother, Where Start Thou? Sibling Spillovers on College and Major Choice in Four Countries.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 136(3): 1831–1886.
Kőszegi, Botond, and Filip Matějka. 2020. “Choice Simplification: A Theory of Mental Budgeting and Naive Diversification.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 135(2): 1153–1207.
Bartoš, Vojtěch, Michal Bauer, Jana Cahlíková, and Julie Chytilová. 2022. “Communicating Doctors’ Consensus Persistently Increases COVID-19 Vaccinations.” Nature, 606: 542–549.
Working Papers CZ
792. Audzei Volha and Sergey Slobodyan. October 2024. “Dynamic Sparse Restricted Perceptions Equilibria” (Full Text)
791. Mutluer Konuray. October 2024. “Leading by Example Among Equals” (Full Text)
790. Linek Lukáš, Michael Škvrňák, Michal Šoltés and Vítězslav Titl. October 2024. “Czech Political Candidate and Donation Datasets” (Full Text)
789. Bauer Michal, Julie Chytilová and Eric Ochieng. September 2024. “Preference Transmission within Churches: Religious Leaders and Clusters of (In)Tolerance” (Full Text)
788. Pavlova Margarita. August 2024. “Competition and the Gender Pay Gap: Evidence from the Russian Trade Withdrawal” (Full Text)
787. Gharibyan Sinara. August 2024. “Collective vs. Family Remembrance: Evidence From Two Russian Betrayals” (Full Text)
786. Trestcov Ivan and Aizhamal Rakhmetova. August 2024. “Winning Culture, Winning Future: The Effects of Early-Career Success on Long-Run Performance” (Full Text)
785. Ashenfelter Orley and Štěpán Jurajda. July 2024. “The U.S. Low-Wage Structure: A McWage Comparison” (Full Text)
784. Ivanov-Davtyan Lusine. July 2024. “Education Under Attack? The Impact of a Localized War on Schooling Achievements” (Full Text)
783. Del Prato Francesco and Paolo Zacchia. June 2024. “The Heterogeneous Consequences of Reduced Labor Costs on Firm Productivity” (Full Text)
782. Shcherbov Arsenii. June 2024. “Forced Migration and Crime: Evidence from the 2014 Immigration Wave to Russia” (Full Text)
781. Rychalovska Yuliya, Sergey Slobodyan and Raf Wouters. May 2024. “Survey Expectations, Adaptive Learning and Inflation Dynamics” (Full Text)
780. Cota Marta and Ante Šterc. May 2024. “Financial Skills and Search in the Mortgage Market” (Full Text)
779. Chen Daniel L., Lubomír Cingl, Arnaud Philippe and Michal Šoltés. April 2024. “Exploring Inmates’ Perceptions, Attitudes, and Behavior: Implications for Theories of Crime” (Full Text)
778. Bičáková Alena and Štěpán Jurajda. March 2024. “COVID-19 and Political Preferences Through Stages of the Pandemic: The Case of the Czech Republic” (Full Text)
777. Lorko Matej, Tomáš Miklánek and Maroš Servátka. March 2024. “Why do some nudges work and others not?” (Full Text)
776. Kashkarov Daniil and Valentin Artemev. March 2024. “Disappearing Stepping Stones: Technological Change and Career Paths” (Full Text)
775. Alfaro-Ureña Alonso and Paolo Zacchia. March 2024. “Matching to Suppliers in the Production Network: an Empirical Framework” (Full Text)
774. Ottinger Sebastian and Lukas Rosenberger. February 2024. “The American Origin of the French Revolution” (Full Text)
773. Senkov Maxim and Toygar T. Kerman. February 2024. “Changing Simplistic Worldviews” (Full Text)
772. Kerman Toygar T. and Anastas P. Tenev. February 2024. “Pitfalls of Information Spillovers in Persuasion” (Full Text)
771. Tokhirov Azizbek. December 2023. “Patience and Giving: Global Evidence Based on Longitudinal and Linguistic Data” (Full Text)
770. Pertold Filip, Sofiana Sinani and Michal Šoltés. November 2023. “Gender Gap in Reported Childcare Preferences among Parents” (Full Text)
769. Razumovskii Artem. November 2023. “Interim Deadline for Procrastinators” (Full Text)
768. Ochsner Christian. November 2023. “Hostility, Population Sorting, and Backwardness: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Red Army after WWII” (Full Text)
767. Alfonsi Livia, Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová and Edward Miguel. November 2023. “Human Capital Affects Religious Identity: Causal Evidence from Kenya” (Full Text)
766. Rychalovska Yuliya, Sergey Slobodyan and Rafael Wouters. October 2023. “Professional Survey Forecasts and
Expectations in DSGE Models” (Full Text)
765. Maksymovych Sergii. October 2023. “The Impact of the Firstborn Gender on Family Formation and Dissolution: Evidence from Russia” (Full Text)
764. Rakhmetova Aizhamal and Ivan Trestcov. September 2023. “Weather Shocks and Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan” (Full Text)
763. Chegere Martin, Paolo Falco and Andreas Menzel. September 2023. “Social Ties at Work and Effort Choice: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania” (Full Text)
762. Baghumyan Gayane. August 2023. “Sexual-Orientation Discrimination and Biological Attributions: Experimental Evidence from Russia” (Full Text) (Additional Materials)
761. Martirosyan Yervand. August 2023. “The Long-Term Impact of Energy Poverty and Its Mitigation on Educational Attainment: Evidence From China” (Full Text)
760. Stojanovic Dušan. August 2023. “Quantitative Easing in the Euro Area: Implications for Income and Wealth Inequality” (Full Text)
759. Skolkova Alena. July 2023. “Instrumental Variable Estimation with Many Instruments Using Elastic-Net IV” (Full Text)
758. Skolkova Alena. July 2023. “Model Averaging with Ridge Regularization” (Full Text)
757. De Jaegher Kris, Michal Šoltés and Vítězslav Titl. July 2023. “Easing Renegotiation Rules in Public Procurement: Evidence from a Policy Reform” (Full Text)
756. Mamonov Mikhail and Anna Pestova. June 2023. “The Price of War: Macroeconomic and Cross-Sectional Effects of Sanctions on Russia” (Full Text)
755. Mamonov Mikhail. June 2023. “Measuring Fraud in Banking and its Impact on the Economy: A Quasi-Natural Experiment” (Full Text)
754. Goncharenko Roman, Mikhail Mamonov, Steven Ongena, Svetlana Popova and Natalia Turdyeva. June 2023. “Quo Vadis? Evidence on New Firm-Bank Matching and Firm Performance Following “Sin” Bank Closures” (Full Text)
753. Mamonov Mikhail, Anna Pestova and Steven Ongena. May 2023. ““Crime and Punishment”? How Banks Anticipate and Propagate Global Financial Sanctions” (Full Text)
752. Malnati Flavio. May 2023. “Deus Vult! Military Capacity and Economic Development in the Teutonic-Order State” (Full Text)
751. Cota Marta. April 2023. “Extrapolative Income Expectations and Retirement Savings” (Full Text)
750. Miotto Martina. April 2023. “Colonialism, Cash Crops and Women in Africa” (Full Text)
749. Coluccia Davide M., Gaia Dossi and Sebastian Ottinger. March 2023. “Racial Discrimination and Lost Innovation: Evidence from US Inventors, 1895–1925” (Full Text)
748. Stojanović Dušan. March 2023. “The Effects of Government Spending in Segmented Labor and Financial Markets” (Full Text)
747. Kouro Theodor. March 2023. “Allocation Choice in Charitable Giving: A Natural Field Experiment” (Full Text)
746. Beneš Jaromír, Tomáš Motl and David Vávra. March 2023. “Practical Macrofinancial Stability Analysis: A Prototype Semistructural Model” (Full Text)
745. Afunts Geghetsik, Misina Cato and Tobias Schmidt. February 2023. “Inflation Expectations in the Wake of the War in Ukraine” (Full Text)
744. Grossmann Jakub and Štěpán Jurajda. February 2023. “Voting under Debtor Distress” (Full Text)
743. Badalyan Sona, Darya Korlyakova and Rastislav Rehák. February 2023. “Disclosure Discrimination: An Experiment Focusing on Communication in the Hiring Process” (Full Text)
742. Grossmann Jakub, Filip Pertold and Michal Šoltés. February 2023. “Parental Allowance Increase and Labour Supply: Evidence from a Czech Reform” (Full Text)
741. Chen Ying and Jan Zápal. November 2022. “Naked Exclusion with Heterogeneous Buyers” (Full Text)
740. Afunts Geghetsik and Štěpán Jurajda. November 2022. “Who Divorces Whom: Unilateral Divorce Legislation and the Educational Structure of Marriage” (Full Text)
739. Rehák Rastislav. November 2022. “Sequential Sampling Beyond Decisions? A Normative Model of Decision Confidence” (Full Text)
738. Boadu-Sebbe Gregory. October 2022. “Effect of Exchange-Traded Funds Arbitrage Transactions on their Underlying Holdings” (Full Text)
737. Šustek Roman. October 2022. “A Back-of-the-Envelope Analysis of House Prices: Czech Republic, 2013-2021” (Full Text)
736. Ilinov Pavel, Andrei Matveenko, Maxim Senkov and Egor Starkov. September 2022. “Optimally Biased Expertise” (Full Text)
735. Kosar Mariia and Sergei Mikhalishchev. September 2022. “Inattentive Price Discovery in ETFs” (Full Text)
734. Senkov Maxim. August 2022. “Setting Interim Deadlines to Persuade” (Full Text)
733. Trestcov Ivan. August 2022. “Compliance Behavior under Surveillance: Introduction of the Video Assistant Referee to European Football” (Full Text)
732. Bičáková Alena and Klára Kalíšková. August 2022. “Is Longer Maternal Care Always Beneficial? The Impact of a Four-year Paid Parental Leave” (Full Text)
731. Korlyakova Darya. July 2022. “Do Pessimistic Expectations About Discrimination Make Minorities Withdraw Their Effort? Causal Evidence” (Full Text)
730. Bianchi Daniele, Mykola Babiak and Alexander Dickerson. June 2022. “Trading Volume and Liquidity Provision in Cryptocurrency Markets” (Full Text)
729. Šterc Ante. June 2022. “Limited Consideration in the Investment Fund Choice” (Full Text)
728. Hrehová Kristína and Štefan Domonkos. June 2022. “Proximity to Help Matters: The Effect of Access to Centers of Legal Aid on Bankruptcy Rates” (Full Text)
727. Stojanović Danilo. May 2022. “The 2003 Tax Reform and Corporate Payout Policy in the US” (Full Text)
726. Baisalova Aisha. July 2022. “Exploring Border Effects: Sensitivity of Cigarette Consumption to Excise Tax” (Full Text)
725. Cingl Lubomír, Tomáš Lichard and Tomáš Miklánek. March 2022. “Mist Over a Meadow: Tax Designation Effects on Compliance” (Full Text)
Dissertations CZ
Stojanović, Dušan "Essays on Aggregate and Distributional Effects of Macroeconomic Policies"
Date of defense: Janury 10, 2025.
Staněk, Filip "Essays in Time-Series Forecasting"
Date of defense: September 16, 2024.
Kashkarov, Daniil "Essays on Human Capital, Inequality and Technological Change"
Date of defense: September 13, 2024.
Šterc, Ante "Essays on Frictions in Financial Decisions"
Date of defense: July 30, 2024.
Sargsyan, Ella "Essays in Development Economics"
Date of defense: July 23, 2024.
Cota, Marta "Behavior and Complexity in Household Finance"
Date of defense: July 11, 2024.
Pyrlik, Vladimir "Essays in High-dimensional Econometrics and Finance"
Date of defense: May 20, 2024.
Jibuti, Daviti "Essays in Experimental Economics: Labor Market Discrimination"
Date of defense: March 26, 2024.
Adunts, Davit "Essays on International Migration"
Date of defense: February 26, 2024.
Pestova, Anna "Essays in Applied Macroeconomics"
Date of defense: January 23, 2024.
Kapanadze, Ketevani "Essays in Regional Economics and European Integration"
Date of defense: December 19, 2023.
Skolkova, Alena "Essays on Model Uncertainty and Model Averaging"
Date of defense: December 14, 2023.
Senkov, Maxim "Essays in Strategic Information Provision"
Date of defense: December 6, 2023.
Mamonov, Mikhail "Essays on Political Distortions in Banking and the Real Economy"
Date of defense: October 25, 2023.
Maksymovych, Sergii "Parenting of Sons and Daughters, Household Decision Making and Family Characteristics"
Date of defense: September 25, 2023.
Bělín, Matěj "Essays in Applied Econometrics"
Date of defense: September 19, 2023.
Afunts, Geghetsik "Essays in Applied Economics"
Date of defense: September 7, 2023.
Korlyakova, Darya "Essays on Information and Discrimination"
Date of defense: September 7, 2023.
Rehák, Rastislav "Essays in Information Economics"
Date of defense: August 31, 2023.
Hrehová, Kristína "Essays in Empirical Economics of the Family"
Date of defense: July 20, 2023.
Groero, Jaroslav "Essays on Genoeconomics"
Date of defense: June 16, 2023.
Ilinov, Pavel "Essays on Endogenous Information Acquisition in Economics"
Date of defense: April 13, 2023.
Hrendash, Taras "Essays on Economics of Innovations"
Date of defense: March 14, 2023.
Kyrychenko, Olexiy "Essays on Environmental and Health Economics"
Date of defense: February 8, 2023.
Kudashvili, Nikoloz "Essays in Experimental Economics: Discrimination and Education"
Date of defense: December 7, 2022.
Mikhalishchev, Sergei "Essays on the Implications of Bounded Rationality to Choice"
Date of defense: September 20, 2022.
Štefko, Peter "Essays on Information in Financial Markets"
Date of defense: June 14, 2022.
Travova, Ekaterina "Essays in Applied Economics"
Date of defense: June 14, 2022.
Todua, Gega "Essays on the Economics of Education "
Date of defense: March 18, 2022.
Kovář, Kamil "Essays on Interbank Interest Rates"
Date of defense: March 14, 2022.
Appleman, William "Explorations into Behavioral Phenomena"
Date of defense: December 6, 2021.
