Economic factors such as wages may have different influences on meal production and consumption times. Previous research has typically investigated only production or consumption time, and has produced mixed results. After developing a stylized model that illustrates how higher wages may reduce...

I examine the relationship between student debt and the timing of marriage. The life-cycle consumption smoothing model implies that student loans should have a very small effect on consumption at any given point in time and should not affect the timing of family formation. I use the Survey of...

How should environmental policy respond to economic fluctuations caused by persistent productivity shocks? This paper answers that question using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium real business cycle model that includes a pollution externality. I first estimate the relationship between...

This paper explores the relationship between time preferences, economic incentives, and body mass index (BMI). Using data from the 2006 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we first show that greater impatience increases BMI and the likelihood of obesity even after controlling for demographic,...

We use longitudinal data from the 1984 through 2007 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine how occupational status is related to the health transitions of 30 to 59 year-old U.S. males. A recent history of blue-collar employment predicts a substantial increase in the probability...

This paper uses daily Major League Baseball (MLB) data from 1938 to 2009 as well annual MLB data from 1920 to 2009 to estimate the effects of doubleheaders on attendance. The annual data over various sub-samples from 1920-2009 indicate that the number of doubleheaders have either a negative or...

Research shows that grocery stores reduce prices to compete with Walmart Supercenters. This study finds evidence that the competitive effects of two other big box retailers – Costco and Walmart-owned Sam's Club – are quite different. Using city-level panel grocery price data matched with a...

Empirical evidence suggests that individual choices often display behavioral anomalies, like time-inconsistent preferences. For example, a household's preferences at the time of purchase of energy-intensive durable goods like cars and appliances may differ from its preferences later on,...

Given the ubiquitous assumption of quasi‐linear utility in economic policy articles, this paper presents an overdue clarification of the implications of quasi‐linear utility for two‐market monopoly. The paper begins by deriving the demands facing a two‐market monopoly from a...

Since Brazil's adoption of a universal health care policy in 1988, the country's health care has been delivered by a mix of private providers and free public providers. We examine whether income-based disparities in medical care usage still exist after the development of the public network using...