In 1994 the World Bank called East Asia's strong economic growth performance a "miracle". Trade openness, high savings rates, human capital accumulation, and macroeconomic policy only explained part of this growth performance; the remainder was left unexplained. Research in the ensuing years has...

We analyze the effect of fertility on income per capita with a particular focus on the experience of Europe. For European countries with below-replacement fertility, the high cost of continued low fertility will only be observed in the long run. We show that in the short run, a fall in the...

We develop an index of reproductive health laws around the world. Laws regarding abortion, contraceptive pill, condom, intrauterine device, and sterilization are detailed for 186 countries from 1960 through to 2009. Using qualitative information dating from the 1960s, we code information on...

We investigate the effects of ante-natal maternal vaccination against tetanus on the schooling attained by children in Bangladesh. Maternal vaccination prevents the child from acquiring tetanus at birth through blood infection and substantially reduces infant mortality and may prevent impairment...

We estimate the effect of malaria on settlement and land use patterns in the Brazilian Amazon, where potential settlers were randomly assigned to plots in a newly opened settlement area. The random assignment allows us to estimate the risk of malaria on each plot based only on its...

The Marmot reports have argued that health inequalities are the result of social inequalities. They advocate reducing health inequalities by undertaking fundamental changes that make society fairer. We argue that the focus should be on improving the health and wellbeing of the disadvantaged,...

Welfare economics, in the form of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, is at present internally inconsistent and ethically unappealing. We address these issues by proposing two ethical axioms: society prefers Pareto improvements and society values lives lived at a "standard" level of...

Debates over the economic effects of demographic change have been raging for over 200 years. Since Thomas Malthus hypothesised in 1798 that rapid population growth would stretch the earth’s resources beyond the breaking point, leading to mass starvation and death, demographers and economists...

We assess the impact of HIV/AIDS on individuals’ health care utilization and spending in the Oyo and Plateau states of Nigeria and income foregone from work time lost. Data was from a 2004 survey of nearly 1,500 households, including 482 individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Estimating the effect...

There are two approaches to reducing the burden of sickness and death associated with HIV/AIDS: treatment and prevention. With limited resources, should the focus be on prevention or treatment? I discuss the range of prevention and treatment alternatives, examine their cost effectiveness, and...