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In this dissertation, I present an examination of the economics of education through three chapters. In the first paper, I study the overrepresentation of elite university graduates in senior positions in public administration. Using rich administrative data from Chile, I employ a stacked fuzzy regression discontinuity design to estimate the causal effect of attending elite universities versus non-elite institutions on the likelihood of working in the public sector and attaining top positions within it. The findings suggest that while the observed disparity in top positions within public administration is largely a result of selection rather than inherent advantages of elite education, attending elite universities may enhance social mobility for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, particularly within specific majors. In the second paper, my coauthors and I propose an alternative approach using algorithms to predict college readiness and guide course placement. Drawing on experimental data from seven community colleges, the study shows that algorithmic placement increases placement rates into college-level courses without sacrificing pass rates. Moreover, algorithmic placement shows promise in narrowing demographic disparities in placement rates and remedial course enrollment, outperforming traditional placement tests in terms of predictive accuracy while mitigating discrimination. In the final chapter, I explore the relationship between school counselor availability and disciplinary outcomes in middle and high schools across the United States. Leveraging exogenous variations in student-to-counselor ratios driven by state recommendations and mandates, I employ administrative data from 26 states to estimate the causal impact of counselor availability on disciplinary actions such as suspensions, expulsions, and transfers. The results indicate that increased counselor availability reduces school disciplinary actions, with larger effects observed in high schools compared to middle schools. Moreover, speculative analyses suggest that the effectiveness of counselors in mitigating disciplinary issues may be complemented by the overall staffing levels in high schools. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of how educational policies and practices shape individual outcomes and societal inequalities, shedding light on avenues for promoting social mobility, improving educational access and equity, and fostering conducive learning environments. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

In the United States, the internet is a vital resource for LGBTQ+ youth to meet their sexual and reproductive health information needs, especially those who cannot receive necessary information from family, healthcare providers, and classrooms. In this dissertation, I present three papers that connect content moderation policies and their impacts with access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information. Participants in all three studies developed goals and expectations for social media, which became difficult to achieve in their respective information contexts. Through ingenuity, persistence, and algorithmic folk theorization, participants developed strategies to resist platform policies and attempt to achieve their goals. This dissertation's first paper is an interview study further exploring how LGBTQ+ youth seek sexual and reproductive health information online. LGBTQ+ youth participants occupied existing online spaces not explicitly related to health information but would naturally encounter relevant information online in these spaces. These information encounters led participants to shift their information seeking behaviors to intentional sexual health information seeking. Participants explained social media's importance in sexual health and reproductive health information seeking, although many expressed concerns about information credibility. In the second paper, I interviewed healthcare providers and sexual health educators who create sexual and reproductive health content on social media. I explore how experts created accurate health content that users like the LGBTQ+ youth participants might encounter online. Providers and educators overwhelmingly felt that content moderation policies restricted their abilities to share comprehensive and medically accurate sexual and reproductive health information. Participants developed, tested, and shared algorithmic folk theories to make sense of their experiences as content creators. Shadowbanning was a particularly troublesome content moderation experience for participants. For the final paper, I used qualitative surveys and interviews with social media users who experienced content moderation to further understand how they make sense of what they believe to be shadowbanning. Participants used strategies similar to the providers and educators for understanding their content removals and perceived changes in social media engagement and metrics. I propose algorithmic altruism as one such strategy where users collectively understood and resisted how they experienced platform moderation algorithms. Although shadowbanning is difficult to define and platforms typically deny its existence, participants believed it happened to them and used strategies to "prove" that it happened to them. This dissertation extends previous research on content moderation, affordances theories, and algorithmic folk theories. Sexual and reproductive health information on social media provides a unique context for considering how these three research areas coalesce. Social media's imagined affordances influence what participants think they can achieve online. I argue that participants use resistance strategies such as algorithmic folk theories to still use the social media affordances they imagine are possible, especially when experiencing unclear content moderation practices. Opaque content moderation policies shift the burden to users making sense of their online experiences and evading shadowbanning or content removals. In this sexual and reproductive health context, this shift means that providers and educators struggle to share comprehensive and accurate information with potential viewers like LGBTQ+ young people. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]