Tax credits have been a popular way to alleviate in-work poverty. The assumption is typically that the incidence is on the claimant workers. However, economic theory suggests no particular reason to believe that this should be the case. This paper investigates the incidence of the Working Families ’ Tax Credit in the UK introduced in 1999, which unlike similar tax credit policies was paid through the wage packet, increasing the connection between the employer and worker with regard to the tax credit. Using two stage parametric and non-parametric censored regression methods we find compelling evidence to suggest that (1) the firm discriminates by cutting the wage of claimant workers relative to similarly skilled non-claimant workers when looking at men and (2) there is a spill-over effect onto the wage of both groups for both men and women.

I study the effect of a R&D subsidy on the investment and financing decisions of recipient firms. Locally unbiased identification is achieved using Regression Discontinuity Design. Empirical results are consistent with a stylized model of selfcertification in which managers are unequal in their ability to understand and process information about their own R&D activities. In this setting, the subsidy acts as a certification device within firms in which managers are biased against R&D activities and will trigger an increase in private R&D investment driven by internal funding. The subsidy will have no informational content for managers well aware about the quality of their R&D. They will use the subsidy as a risk sharing device and substitute public funds for costly external finance.

on Wages in the UK

This dissertation utilizes quasi-experimental and experimental techniques to contribute to the literature on environmental and resource economics in three dis-tinct ways but with the overarching goal of demonstrating the usefulness of ex-perimental techniques to explore topics related to the environment. First, chapter one demonstrates the feasibility and draw-backs of using a quasi-experimental re-gression discontinuity approach to analyze the ozone regulation contained in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Chapter two explores the impacts how economic and social-psychology factors affect the adoption of an environmental technology, namely compact fluorescent light bulbs. In order to consider these factors, chapter two utilizes a large-scale field experiment informed by a theoretical model of adop-tion. Finally, chapter three utilizes a field experiment designed for a large apartment management company, to advance the literature on presumed (opt-out) and explicit (opt-in) consent procedures by exploring a willingness to pay to forgo the decision