Whether user fees for basic health services should be charged or abolished for the poor has recently been debated. This study examines the impact on child health status of removing user fees in South Africa. Our main innovation is to exploit plausibly exogenous variation in access to free...

Corruption is known to inhibit economic growth. The dearth of data on actual bribe payments, however, has been the major impediment for reliable quantitative knowledge of bribery and resulted in little consensus in methods of fighting corruption. This paper tests whether increased access to...

We use novel microdata on on-road fuel consumption and prices paid for fuel in Japan to estimate short-run price elasticities of demand for gasoline consumption. We have three main findings. First, our elasticity estimates of roughly -0.37 are in orders of magnitude larger than previously...

We use novel microdata on on-road fuel consumption and prices paid for fuel in Japan to estimate short-run price elasticities of demand for gasoline consumption. We have three main findings. First, our elasticity estimates of roughly -0.37 are in orders of magnitude larger than previously...

This study examines the effect of a tightening of the U.S. air-quality standard for lead in 2009 on the relocation of battery recycling to Mexico and on infant health in Mexico. In the U.S., airborne lead dropped sharply near affected plants, most of which were battery-recycling plants. Exports...