Economists have long been interested in evaluating the role that time preferences play in a wide range of economic decisions. In the health care arena, time preferences may be an especially important determinant of many decisions—particularly the use of preventative health care. One potential...

The danger of alcohol- and drug-impaired driving implies that policies that reduce substance abuse can save lives. We study this issue in small U.S. counties where access to substance abuse treatment can be measured directly through the presence of treatment facilities. We find that placing an...

Many developing countries are plagued by persistent inequality in income distribution. While a growing body of economic-demographic literature emphasizes differential fertility channel, this paper investigates differential childmortality—differences in childmortality across income groups— as...

This paper examines the effects of competition between insurers for the patronage of a firm's employees. Since for employment-based health insurance the employee choice of health insurance plans is often limited, the availability of competing plans in the market does not necessarily reflect...

This article uses several within-sample tests to assess whether current seatbelt usage decisions are consistent with the stated preferences of survey respondents. The expressed survey values of statistical life are positively associated with the probability of seatbelt usage and are not...

We examine the relationships among alcohol prices, consumption, and traffic fatalities using data across U.S. states from 1982 to 2000. Some previous studies have found large, negative associations between alcohol taxes and fatalities. However, commonly used price data suggest little or no...

The appropriate role of foreign aid in promoting economic development has long been debated. With the recent change of focus from economic to human development, it is timely to investigate the effectiveness of aid in promoting human development. This paper is the first to empirically test the...

This paper describes a classroom game that illustrates the effects of asymmetric information and adverse selection in health insurance markets. The first part of this game simulates a market in which buyers can purchase insurance from sellers; in some periods, government regulation prevents...

This paper provides an analysis of the link between suicidal behaviors and human capital formation of young adults in the United States. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate the effects of suicide thoughts and attempts on the probability of engaging...