There is ample evidence that bereavement is associated with heightened mortality. Regardless of whether this strong association is truly causal, little is known about the factors contributing to it. This study begins to unpack the black box of the bereavement–mortality puzzle by investigating...

The worldwide problem with pay-as-you-go, defined-benefits social security systems isn't just financial. Through a dynamic, overlapping-generations model where forming a family and bearing and educating children are choice variables, we show that social security taxes and benefits generate...

We explore the relationship between relative physical attractiveness in the household and the hours worked by married men and women. Using PSID data, we find that husbands who are thinner relative to their wives work fewer hours, while wives who are heavier relative to their husbands work more...