UCLA

This dissertation consists of three essays on human capital. In Chapter 1, I investigate the impact of collaborating with robots on human capital, focusing on professional baseball umpires who were provided with and then deprived of robot assistance. Umpires displayed enhanced accuracy with robot assistance, but experienced significant declines in performance once it was removed. I argue that these findings can extend beyond baseball, suggesting broader implications for occupations sharing similar skill sets. In Chapter 2, joint with Felipe Goncalves and Emily Weisburst, we investigate the effects of changes in workplace risk awareness on police behavior and public safety, focusing on incidents of police officer fatalities while on duty. Our findings reveal that following the death of a fellow officer, police officers reduce arrest activity for one to two months, indicating heightened fear. This reduction is most prominent for minor offenses and is more pronounced in smaller cities. Yet, we find no evidence of increased crime rates during this period, suggesting that reduction in arrests does not adversely impact public safety. In Chapter 3, joint with Anna Aizer, Shari Eli and Adriana Lleras-Muney, we utilize newly gathered data of 16,000 women who applied for Mothers' Pensions, America's first welfare program, to explore the impact of means-tested cash transfers on lifetime family dynamics and maternal welfare. In the short term, these transfers led to postponed marriage and reduced geographical mobility. However, in the long run, they had no discernible effect on remarriage probability, spouse quality, fertility, or maternal well-being, as measured by longevity and family income in 1940. With the absence of significant negative behavioral outcomes, we suggest that the benefits of such transfers may outweigh the costs, particularly if they yield even modest positive impacts on children.