Three essays in applied microeconomics

• Main Author: Burchardi, Konrad Burchard
• Published: London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) 2011
• Subjects: HB Economic Theory
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.725486

This thesis comprises three independent chapters, spanning the range of my interests. The first chapter provides estimates of the causal effects of social ties on aggregate, firm level and individual level economic outcomes. The second chapter is a first step at understanding the joint determination of language change and economic structural change which seems to have occurred over the past centuries and probably continues today. A joint theme in these papers is the attempt to contribute to our understanding of the extent to which cultural and social factors can impact market outcomes. The second paper is as well interested in a specific channel through which economic outcomes can feed back on a cultural aspect of societies. The third paper seeks to contribute to our understanding of a more traditional economic question, namely individual behaviour in strategic situations. In particular it uses a novel experimental design to investigate individual behaviour in unprecedented strategic situations and estimate the parameters of a structural non-equilibrium model of behaviour. I like to belief that the chapters of this thesis, especially the second and third chapter, tie up closely the theoretical and empirical work and make a humble contribution to our understanding of economic behaviour and market functioning.