The Medicare Modernization Act was recently established, to provide limited drug coverage to the elderly. However, there is limited evidence on how drug coverage might affect health. The goal of this paper is to obtain "causal effects" of prescription drug coverage on drug use, use of other...

We examine the effect of gaining prescription drug insurance as a result of Medicare Part D on use of prescription drugs, use of other medical services, and health for a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries. Given the heightened importance of prescription drugs for those...

The author empirically examines the effect on youth employment of government-mandated employer-provided benefits. In particular, he investigates the effect of unemployment compensation insurance taxes and workers' compensation insurance mandates on the employment of youths (aged 16-19) and young...

Using the 1984 and 1988 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study provides an update of several previous cross-sectional estimates of the effect of illicit drug use on wages, as well as the first longitudinal estimates of that effect. The cross-sectional results, which are...

The Out-Of-Wedlock Birth Reduction Bonus ("Illegitimacy Bonus"), part of the 1996 welfare reform legislation, awarded up to $100 million in each of five years to the five states with the greatest reduction in the non-marital birth ratio. Alabama, Michigan, and Washington D.C. each won bonuses...

In this paper, I test whether a variety of social and economic factors are significantly related to an individuals family structure. I focus on the relationship between one particular type of family structure, a never married parent, and three variables: drug use, the generosity of welfare...