This research establishes the influence of linguistic traits on human behavior. Exploiting variations in the languages spoken by children of migrants with identical ancestral countries of origin, the analysis indicates that the presence of periphrastic future tense, and its association with...

We study the impact of student debt on various labor market outcomes, namely, labor market income, hourly wages, hours worked, and probability of full-time employment. Using data from the NLSY97 surveys and a difference-in-difference approach, we find statistically significant differences in...

We estimate the increasing health care needs of American inmates by combining data on inmate demographics and national health trends. Decades of harsh punishment combined with demographic shifts have led to a “greying” prison population that is a source of concern for policymakers. Our...

We use a choice experiment to examine public support for minimum wages. We first elicit respondents' moral assessment of two labor market systems: one with a minimum wage and one without. Then, we present four pairs of hypothetical employment outcomes and ask respondents to "vote." Our estimates...

GDP is a measure of production and yet it is widely used as a proxy for well-being. It is particularly ill-suited for assessing the contributions of digital goods which are free to consumers and thus excluded from GDP measures. This underscores the need to develop new measures of well-being...