Governments are resorting to incentives to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind them. Using Canada as a case study, this paper discusses how governments have used positive and negative incentives to increase vaccination rates, which is key to minimizing the public health risks and restrictions...

We develop a novel approach integrating epidemiological and economic models that allows databased simulations during a pandemic. We examine the economically optimal opening strategy that can be reconciled with the containment of a pandemic. The empirical evidence is based on data from Germany...

Routine childhood vaccinations can improve human capital development over the life cycle. This paper evaluates the long-term economic benefits of India’s childhood vaccination program, known as the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP). We combine individual-level data from the 68th round of...

We review Greek public sector healthcare policies and health-related outcomes since 2010.We find that excess spending was successfully curtailed, elements of the institutional framework were modernized, and health outcomes have been relatively favorable. However, especially prior to Covid-19,...

The Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) provisions in the U.S. Tobacco Control Act (TCA) prohibit any new or substantially different types or brands of tobacco products from entering the U.S. market unless FDA first finds that allowing the product’s marketing is “appropriate for the...

This paper exploits a new source of variation in Head Start funding to identify the program's effects on health and schooling. In 1965 the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) provided technical assistance to the 300 poorest counties to develop Head Start proposals. The result was a large and...

The context of community-based interventions presents formidable problems for any evaluation analysis. Group-randomized studies do possess ideal properties in theory, but in practice, group-randomization might not be a feasible alternative at all or group-randomized studies might be...

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to lifestyle changes across Europe with a likely impact on sleep quality. This investigation considers sleep quality in relation to the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in five European countries. Using panel regressions and keeping policy responses to COVID-19...

Routine childhood vaccinations are among the most cost-effective interventions. In recent years, the broader benefits of vaccines, which include improved cognitive and schooling outcomes, have also been established. This paper evaluates the long-term economic benefits of India's national program...

This paper conducts an empirical analysis of the effect of health care policy uncertainty (HCPU) on households’ portfolio choice. A causal identification approach is developed, whose key assumption is the existence of an exogenous variable that shifts responsiveness to HCPU without shifting...