UCLA

This dissertation includes three essays in applied microeconomics. In Chapter 1, I detail how immigrants facilitate illegal drug trafficking in the context of Spain. I do so by drawing upon novel data on international illegal drug confiscations and by implementing a gravity equation estimation strategy. I find that immigrants without legal status primarily drive immigrant-induced trafficking of illegal drugs, and that immigrant social connections back to their home country are also relevant for explaining illegal trafficking. In Chapter 2, with coauthors I find that consumers rarely use funds from equity extraction to purchase a car directly, even during the mid-2000s’ housing boom; this finding holds across three nationally representative household surveys. We find in credit bureau data that equity extraction does lead to a statistically significant increase in auto loan originations, consistent with equity extraction easing borrowing constraints in the auto loan market. This channel, though, accounts for only a tiny share of overall car purchases. In Chapter 3, with coauthors I explore the long-run effects of the quasi-randomized Matlab Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning (MCH-FP) program introduced in a rural area of Bangladesh from 1977-1988 on firm and farm profitability 35 years later. Using a rich data set including two followup surveys with unusually low rates of attrition, we estimate that the MCH-FP raised firm and farm productivity in the long-run.