Using different production function models, we study the causal association between adolescence development and the increase in the gap in math performance between boys and girls. We use data from the 1958 British National Child Development Study, a longitudinal survey of all British children...

This paper uses Propensity Score Matching to investigate the causal effect of breastfeeding on children's cognitive development. There is a strong association between breastfeeding and cognitive outcomes; however, it is notoriously difficult to establish whether this is causal, or whether it...

We study the effects of maternal age on infant health. Age at birth has been increasing for the past several decades in many countries, and correlations show that health at birth is worse for children born to older mothers. In order to identify causal effects, we exploit school entry cutoffs and...

We study the effects of school starting age on siblings' infant health. In Spain, children born in December start school a year earlier than those born the following January, despite being essentially the same age. We follow a regression discontinuity design to compare the health at birth of the...

The Spanish welfare state was practically inexistent in the 1980s. It expanded throughout the 1990s and became fully in place by the 2000s. At the same time, internal migration rates dropped to less than 0.3 percent -among the lowest in the world. In a country with large labor market imbalances,...

This paper explores differences in work injury and fatality rates between immigrants and natives and how they may have been impacted by the recent economic downturn. Our focus is on Spain over the 2001-2010 decade -a period of time during which Spain received one of the largest immigrant inflows...

We study the effects of the cancellation of a sizeable child benefit in Spain on birth timing and neonatal health. In May 2010, the government announced that a 2,500-euro universal baby bonus would stop being paid to babies born on or after January 1st, 2011. We use detailed micro data from...

We use novel diary surveys coupled with universities' administrative student data for the last three decades to document that increased competition for university places at elite institutions in the United Kingdom contributes to explain growing gaps in time investments between college and...

Previous work in the demand for freight transportation has focused in the rail-truck substitution problem, leaving aside the prior own-account versus third-party trade-off, often found in transportation decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to analyze shippers’ behavior relative to...

We examine the fertility impact of a change in immigration policy granting temporary legal status to undocumented immigrants based on their offspring nationality. The policy, intended to facilitate family reunification, was enacted in a 2011 Royal Decree in Spain. It recognized the ability for...