This paper investigates the determinants of global child labor among countries with non-zero child labor rates. I find that the average child labor rate across countries rises with the size of the rural population, female labor force participation and fertility, whereas it falls with increases...

This interdisciplinary study combines anthropological and economic theories and methods to understand how Mexican-Americans’ collectivist cultural values affect their savings behavior and their preparation for retirement. Mexican-Americans are the fastest growing immigrant group in the United...

This study updates what we know about the Great Recession’s impact on older unemployed Americans’ health and pre-retirement life by focusing on their wealth and income sources, health insurance access, poverty rates, unemployment duration, labor force drop-out rates, and Social Security...

Workplace retirement plans (DC and DBs) help workers save for retirement conveniently, consistently, and automatically. But retirement account offer rates are steadily declining. Between 2001-2003 and 2010-2012, the retirement plan offer rate dropped from 63% to 55%. The drop is driven by a...

This study assesses the role of Social Security (OASI) and Social Security Disability Insurance, 401(k) plans, unemployment insurance, Medicare, and the federal income tax system in moderating the business cycle in the United States. Using Instrumental Variable (IV) estimation, we demonstrate...

This paper investigates how various retirement institutions impact the macroeconomy. We find that for every 1 percentage point increase in the output gap, net flows of various government programmes including Social Security decrease by 0.34 percentage points, while net flows of 401(k) plans...

Climate change models predict that storm frequency will decrease over time, while storm intensity will increase. This paper looks at the national effects of storm frequency and storm intensity on various industries in the US economy, using yearly data from 1977 through 1997. We find that yearly...

This paper examines whether local relative factor supplies affect local relative factor prices across US states. Using data on relative wages and relative labor supplies across the US, I find that state specific relative labor supplies significantly impact state specific relative wages across...

This paper analyzes how changes in the local skill distribution of the labor force affect the local wage distribution. I measure the elasticity of wages to changes in the supply of the various skill groups, using time series and cross sectional data on Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the US in...

Climate change models predict that storm frequency will decrease over time, while storm intensity will increase. This paper looks at the national effects of storm frequency and storm intensity on various industries in the US economy, using yearly data from 1977 through 1997. We find that yearly...