This paper uses estimates of the dates at which different countries have experienced their demographic transitions to examine the main historical determinants of these transitions. We first show that genetic distance to the United Kingdom, a measure of cultural relatedness used in Spolaore and...

The old-age security hypothesis establishes that one important reason why parents have a large offspring is to ensure that they will receive financial support from them in old age. In this paper we use data on fertility and financial development in 19th century U.S. to indirectly test this...

This paper aims to study the effect of a major historical event on the Spanish city size distribution, the Spanish Reconquista. This was a long military campaign that aimed to expel Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula. The process started in the early 1300s and ended around 1500, when the entire...

This paper uses a new dataset on Internet flows between cities around the world to study whether electronic communication and face-to-face contacts are substitutes or complements. In order to test these competing hypotheses I estimate a regression of bilateral Internet traffic on physical...

This paper examines the effects of foreign aid on fertility rates in recipient countries using Rajan and Subramanian’s (2008) cross-sectional and panel methods. Our cross-section results suggest that foreign aid has a positive effect on fertility. Interestingly, social sector aid (but not...

The gaps between male and female outcomes and opportunities are present in several different dimensions and many countries, especially in developing ones. These gaps are likely to result in lower aggregate productivity because of an inefficient use of women potential. In this paper we examine...

This paper studies the association between ownership structure and literacy across Spanish districts in the late 19th century. We nd a positive correlation between the ownership rate of the type of livestock mostly used in agriculture (i.e. cattle) and the literacy rate, which is robust to...

The U.S. wine market experienced rapid growth in all facets—production, consumption, exports, and imports—over the past decade. Red wine imports more than tripled while consumption of domestically produced red wines doubled. This research estimates demand elasticities of U.S. red wine...

This paper uses new estimates of the dates on which different countries experienced their demographic transition to examine the main historical determinants of these transitions. Our results indicate that countries with better historical institutions reached the onset of the transition earlier....

We present a general equilibrium dynamic model that characterizes the gap between optimal and equilibrium fertility and investment in human capital. In the model, the aggregate production function exhibits increasing returns to population arising from specialization but households face the...