Three Essays on Applied Microeconomics
Notice bibliographique
Résumé
This dissertation contains three chapters in the field of applied microeconomics. Specifically, they address research questions about the demand for (il)legal marijuana and firms' responses to financial audits. \n \nIn the first chapter, I assess the effect of recreational marijuana legalization on the black market's presence by studying Uruguay's marijuana market. This country's legalization aimed to reduce the drug trafficking market's presence and societal costs. However, post-legalization, a third of Uruguayan marijuana users still buy from drug dealers. In this chapter, I estimate a novel demand model in a post-legalized environment that includes access selection/limitations, alternative choices regarding the source (legal or drug trafficking), and individual-level prices. I use these estimates to identify tools that steer the demand to the legal market. Counterfactuals show that a 10% price reduction increases legal marijuana use by 9%, but primarily driven by new users. Reducing access to the drug trafficking market decreases the use of both legal and illegal marijuana, emphasizing access's role in demand. In contrast, widespread legal marijuana access leads to a 17% increase in legal use, with half coming from the drug trafficking market. Understanding consumer substitutions between (il)legal options is crucial for policies targeting black market reduction. \n \nI the second chapter, joint with Tania Guerra Rosero, we analyze if the government should harness private agents to deliver public services. We assess this in the context of the tax administration in Ecuador where the government collaborates with third-party auditors to increase tax compliance. Large firms in Ecuador are required to have third-party audits of their yearly balance sheets and income statements. Auditors review the financial statements and prepare a tax compliance report for the Ecuadorian Tax Agency. We exploit a reform that significantly reduced the asset threshold determining the audit obligation and first document a large bunching response. Second, we provide suggestive evidence that bunching firms reduce their assets through reductions in the debts of their clients (accounts receivable) and in the short-term debts with their suppliers (accounts payable). Third, we use a donut-hole Regression Discontinuity Design to explore the effects of the audits on the audited firms. Our results indicate that firms reduce their reported costs and expenses by 24% and compensate for this with a reduction in reported revenues of 23%. Firms also reduce their net income by 32%. This suggests that governments should not rely on private agents to conduct tax audits. \n \nIn the third chapter, I assess the price elasticities of different forms of marijuana (inhalants and edibles) and how these elasticities vary based on potency preference. Using individual-level data from surveys conducted between 2020 and 2022 in Canada, I estimate a two-level nested logit model where individuals first decide whether to use marijuana and then select the form (edible or inhalant). The results indicate a positive correlation between marijuana forms' valuations and reveal that individuals with a preference for high THC potency obtain a lower utility for edibles over inhalants. Additionally, the study finds that edibles exhibit larger own-price elasticities, in absolute terms, compared to inhalants. Regarding inhalants, individuals with a preference for high THC potency are less price sensitive than individual without this taste. These findings can be useful for public policy when designing pricing strategies in curbing excessive consumption of more potent and harmful marijuana products.
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Comment cette classification a été obtenuedéplier
Prédiction machine sur la base complète
Imitation des enseignantsNi prévalence calibrée, ni vérité terrain. Validation humaine à venir. Le volet Gemma est une étiquette directe du modèle pour chaque travail de la base, lue sur la notice réduite au titre. Le volet Codex est un classifieur appris des 10 348 étiquettes directes de Codex et calibré sur les taux pondérés de l'échantillon; les champs sans appui suffisant ne portent aucun appel Codex. Le mode candidate est l'union des deux volets; le consensus est leur intersection. Ces sorties portent le statut machine_predicted_unvalidated et ne sont pas des étiquettes humaines.
Scores du classifieur distillé par catégorie (deux têtes)
| Catégorie | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Métarecherche | 0,003 | 0,012 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens strict) | 0,001 | 0,000 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens large) | 0,001 | 0,001 |
| Bibliométrie | 0,002 | 0,003 |
| Études des sciences et des technologies | 0,002 | 0,006 |
| Communication savante | 0,005 | 0,005 |
| Science ouverte | 0,001 | 0,002 |
| Intégrité de la recherche | 0,002 | 0,005 |
| Charge utile insuffisante (le modèle a refusé de juger) | 0,016 | 0,004 |
Scores machine (provisoires)
Les deux têtes enseignantes du modèle étudiant, lues sur ce travail. Un score ordonne la base pour la relecture; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie, et le statut de validation accompagne chaque rangée tel quel.
Scores de référence d'un modèle non mature (critères de maturité non atteints, 7 itérations). Un score ordonne; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · tel quel depuis la passe de notation : score_only signifie que le nombre peut ordonner les travaux, et qu'aucune étiquette de catégorie n'en découleClassification
machine, non validéePrédiction automatique; un appel candidat d’une seule source (Gemma direct ou Codex distillé), pas un consensus.
Le détail, modèle par modèle et score par score, se trouve en fin de page sous « Comment cette classification a été obtenue ».