| Summary: | This dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter considers identification and estimation of ceteris paribus effects of continuous regressors in nonseparable panel models with instrumental variables. From the insight that the passing of time creates a triangular structure in which shocks realized in the future are excluded at present, a novel recursive control function is shown to control for persistence in the unobservables, permitting identification. The second chapter considers testing the linear specification of economic mobility. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for a copula to imply linear mobility, providing examples of common copulas that do and do not admit this property. Then, we derive the limiting distribution of the mobility regression and develop a copula-based nonparametric test for the linear specification, with valid inference using the multiplicative bootstrap. The third chapter considers disability benefits, consumption insurance, and labor supply. While a mature literature finds that Disability Insurance (DI) receipt discourages work, the welfare implications of these findings depend on two rarely studied economic quantities: the full cost of DI allowances to taxpayers, summing over DI transfer payments, benefit substitution to or from other transfer programs, and induced changes in tax receipts; and the value that individuals and families place on receiving benefits in the event of disability. We comprehensively assess these missing margins in the context of Norway's DI system, drawing on strengths of the Norwegian environment.
|
|---|
