Over most of the twentieth century, the U.S. has witnessed considerable increases in divorce rates. Conventional economic literature believes that married women's entry into market work may have contributed to this by decreasing the gains from marriage arising from specialization between...

Various empirical studies find evidence of that women tend to underestimate the probability that they will work in the market in the future. This can lead to initial under-investment in market human capital and resulting earnings penalties later in life. However, virtually no study investigates...

Extant research finds inverse relationships between beer taxes and physical child abuse. This study extends the direction of research by investigating the relationship between beer taxes, other alcohol policies and child homicide deaths. The homicide death count for children 0-9 years old at the...

While considerable research exists on whether abortion restrictions affect adolescents’ demand for abortions, less work has been done about whether such restrictions deter pregnancy-risk behavior among adolescents. This paper uses data from the first round of the NLSY97 to investigate the...

The purpose of this study is to explore whether, in the U.S., there are associations between state-level variations in mortality among young children and state abortion restriction policies – such as parental-consent requirements, parental-notification requirements, mandatory delay laws, and...

It has long been posited by scientists that we need to have a better understanding in the role that larger contextual factors -- like neighborhood quality and the built environment -- may have on the nation's obesity crisis. This paper explores whether maternal perceptions of neighborhood...

There is evidence in the economics literature that restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion reduces the demand for abortion. The unresolved question is whether such restrictions also increase safe sex (that is, pregnancy avoidance) behavior among women. This study explores that issue using...

We examine the possible existence of a 'gateway' effect between the consumption of three different substances--cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana--among adolescents. A gateway effect exists when consumption of one substance increases the likelihood of subsequent initiation of consumption of...

This paper tests the hypothesis that state-level restrictions on abortion access are linked to increases in child fatal-injury rates. The rationale is that such restrictions may disproportionately increase births of “unwanted” children as well as births to young, single, and low...