UC San Diego

This dissertation looks at the impacts of government regulation, particularly in the sense of wage setting with a federal minimum wage increase and information disclosure programs with airline scheduling. The first chapter examines the effects of the most recent federal minimum wage increase on employment as well as income trajectories. The second chapter explores the effects of the same recent minimum wage increase on the complexity of the U.S.'s welfare redistribution network by looking its effects on Medicaid participation as well as employment and job search activity. Finally, the third chapter explores the effects of an information disclosure program on firms' product quality, specifically looking at how airlines adjust their scheduled flight times once they become subject to reporting, and subsequently ranked on, their on-time performance