Examines linkages between food and health spending patterns, income, and health status of the elderly. Links these relationships to food insecurity and expenditures on nutraceuticals. Methodology includes simultaneous estimation of expenditure systems and health production functions. Preliminary...

Economic analyses generally incorporate environmental motivations in examining the factors that determine whether consumers will buy organic and ecolabeled foods, but have not typically considered health and wellness motivations. Market research studies, using both focus groups and surveys, have...

The important contribution of hospitals to the economies of rural areas has been the subject of several research studies. The results, however, have been contradictory. This paper analyzes the economic impact of rural hospital closures on rural communities in Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas in the...

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/30/04.

This paper examines the separate impacts of early childhood nutrition and current health problems on academic achievement. Previous research has only considered either the impact of nutrition or specific health problems on academic achievement. This is the first paper to consider both measures...

Although cigarette producers knew that nicotine was addictive in the early 1960's, this information was not publicly known until the 1979 Surgeon General's Report. This study finds that the release of addiction information caused a structural shift in cigarette demand and estimates the value of...