California health and welfare officials asked the authors to identify ways that their programs could encourage service use among low-income women. The project posed a challenge: The clients wanted to identify supply-side barriers amenable to intervention, but prior research suggested other...

This paper offers a theoretical framework for understanding the crisis of the U.S. health care system and the mainstream debate to restructure health care financing and delivery system. It argues that the crisis of the health care system is a cause and a consequence of the long-cycle of...

This review essay offers a critical assessment of the world economic and social situation through an examination of two recent books by the United Nations. It outlines the contours of the world economic crisis and makes some suggestions about its probable causes. Next, the policy responses to...

This paper uses the abrupt changes in health insurance coverage at age 65 arising from the Medicare program eligibility rules to evaluate the impact of insurance status on treatment intensity and health outcomes. Drawing from several million hospital discharge records for the State of...

The authors use the increases in health insurance coverage at age 65 generated by the rules of the Medicare program to evaluate the effects of health insurance coverage on health related behaviors and outcomes. The rise in overall coverage at age 65 is accompanied by a narrowing of disparities...

A substantial economics literature documents that tighter alcohol controls reduce alcohol related harms, but far less is known about mechanisms. We use the universe of Canadian mortality records to document that Canada's Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) significantly reduces mortality rates of...

Enforcement efforts are the primary approach to reduce illegal drug use in the U.S., but evidence on their effectiveness is mixed. We provide new evidence on the effectiveness of enforcement efforts by using rich administrative records and the staggered implementation of state laws targeting...

Health insurance affects the rate at which individuals visit hospitals and emergency departments (EDs). We identify the causal effect of losing health insurance using a regression discontinuity design. We compare individuals just before and after their twenty third birthday, which insurers have...