The retention of female unrestricted line officers

This thesis analyzes the retention of female Naval officers, focusing on the relationship between officer selection metrics and retention beyond minimum service obligation and the effect of lateral transfers on the retention of junior officer in the Unrestricted Line. The retention analysis utilizes data from Naval Academy cohorts 1988-1991, while the lateral transfer analysis uses data from officer cohorts 1986-1991 available through the Officer Promotion History File. The retention analysis focuses on whether the elements of the Naval Academy's Whole Person Multiple (WPM) are valid predictors of graduation and fleet retention beyond minimum service requirement for female officers. Results indicate that the WPM is generally a poor predictor of female graduation and retention, a result that is contrary to previous research that used mixed gender or male-only samples. Only the Math SAT, English/Math teacher recommendation score, and athletic/non-athletic extracurricular activities score have positive and significant relationships with retention beyond minimum service requirement. Thus, it is recommended that the Naval Academy Admissions Board develop a revised selection metric for females in order to select and commission female officers with a greater propensity for career service. The lateral transfer analysis seeks to determine the characteristics of officers in the Navy's lateral transfer system. Results reveal that women are more likely than men to transfer from Unrestricted Line to Restricted Line communities. This higher likelihood of lateral transfer for women is considered a major contributor to the low retention of female officers in Unrestricted Line communities.http://archive.org/details/theretentionoffe109452233Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Essays in Development and Labor Economics

This dissertation is comprised of a three-part study in labor and development economics. Each chapter analyzes one aspect of the labor market. I study the effects of work experience, the importance of household structure and arrangement, and how potential job seekers (politicians) respond to implicit prices. All chapters are unified by a focus on the allocation rules associated with government work or programs and their secondary effects. Chapters 1 and 3 consider directly how selection processes affect who works with the government and their returns. Chapter 2 focuses on marginal program recipients given allocation design. Together, the studies show the persistence of externalities from large-scale public policies and the importance of allocation-specific rules in selection. The first chapter examines the career effects of receiving a temporary, managerial position from the government. To do so, we exploit the random allocation of contracts to manage construction projects to licensed individuals in the Dominican Republic. We link this randomization to detailed administrative data on both individual outcomes and information about the firms created by individuals. People who randomly receive these positions shift away from being employees in the private sector and start new firms about 25% more often than the lottery non-winners. This firm creation happens when they finish their randomly assigned position, and the newly created firms are higher quality than firms created by non-winners. We also show that individuals with a high desire for these positions are relatively more likely to create firms as a result of receiving the positions. This application behavior has implications for the redesign of this program and potentially other programs aimed at increasing entrepreneurship. The second chapter investigates the effect of having a parent or sibling incarcerated on a child's long-term development. Despite high incarceration rates in the United States and the plausibly large effects on close relatives, these externalities are unknown. We use the random assignment of judges to defendants in Ohio to generate quasi-random variation in having a family member incarcerated. We find the incarceration of a parent reduces criminal justice system involvement over the life course and increases the likelihood to live in higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods as an adult. Parental incarceration has no statistically significant effect on education nor on other risky behaviors such as teen pregnancy. The incarceration of a sibling also reduces criminal involvement. We further explore the mechanisms behind these effects.Chapter three tests whether reducing illicit rents available to politicians changes the composition of elected local officials in India. We study the randomized allocation of a biometric authentication system that past research showed increased the share of government disbursements received by beneficiaries. This policy likely reduced the share of rents captured by political officials and increased wages for low-skill workers. A simple model shows the decrease in potential illicit rents and increase in low-skill wages have differing predictions, highlighting the need for empirical work. We show that the program reduced the education levels of the head of the local government, consistent with illicit rents being a driver to seek political office, and find no impact on electoral competition

RESULTS OF THE COLLABORATIVE STUDY ON TUBEROUS SCLEROSIS COMPLEX (TSC) IN ITALY

The results of an Italian collaborative study on Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) are reported. 252 patients with TSC are the object of this study: 192 cases evaluated in 36 Italian Paediatric Institutions and 60 cases observed at the Paediatric Institute of the University of Siena. The numerosity of our series is not sufficient to evaluate the incidence and prevalence of the disease in Italy. However the collaborative study allowed us to obtain reliable information about the type and frequency of the clinical and instrumental findings observed in TSC. In particular our data indicated that the CNS was very frequently involved. Neuroimaging techniques (brain CT and MRI) indicated the presence of cerebral abnormalities in 96 per cent of the cases. High incidence of mental retardation and of drug-resistant seizures was also observed. It is possible that a bins exists due to the selection of the more severely affected cases in our hospital series. Since molecular analysis cannot be at present utilized for diagnostic purpouse, the correct application of the diagnostic criteria is the only reliable method to identify the index case and to offer the genetic counselling to the family. For this reason we think that improving knowledge of physicians and lay people about the polymorphism of the disease is an important tool for prevention. The Italian Association for Neuro-Ectodermosis can contribute to sensitize the politicians and health authorities and offer the patients and their families an adequate assistance, and psychological and material support