Ever since the seminal work of Stigler (1962), economists have recognized that information in markets is costly to acquire and can lead to “search frictionsâ€. The remarkable growth in online search has substantially lowered the cost of information acquisition. Despite this, there is...

We demonstrate how the standard usage of the random incentive system in ambiguity experiments is not incentive compatible if the decision maker is ambiguity averse. We propose a slight modification of the procedure in which the randomization takes place before decisions are made and the state is...

In this paper, we examine the effect of family co-residence and proximity on the labour force participation and working hours of Canadian women. Using Cycle 21 of the Canadian General Social Survey, we describe proximity patterns in Canada and show that the labour force attachment of women is...

We develop and estimate a generalized labour supply model that incorporates work effort into the standard consumption-leisure trade-off. We allow workers a choice between two contracts: a piece rate contract, wherein he is paid per unit of service provided, and a mixed contract, wherein he...

Household production is an important non-market activity and the empirical literature has developed different methods towards valuing household production without, however, providing a rigorous theoretical foundation for the various approaches. We follow the literature spawned by Becker (1965)...

The Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) represents one of the largest transfer programs administered by the Canadian government, representing 4.5 percent of federal transfers to individuals. The UCCB – which provides $100 monthly to parents for every child under six years of age –...

I study the effect of a universal child-related income transfer on the labour supply of married individuals. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, I find the Canadian Universal Child Care Benefit has significant negative income effects. The likelihood of lower-educated mothers to...

This paper uses detailed administrative data from one of the largest community colleges in the United States to quantify the extent to which academic performance depends on students being of similar race or ethnicity to their instructors. To address the concern of endogenous sorting, we use both...

Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for understanding key issues in economics. Price and quantity series are derived for four education levels. The price series are highly correlated and they exhibit a strong secular trend. Three...

Universality is a hallmark of Canadian social policy for very young children. The evidence base for these policies is small, non-experimental and offers mixed results. In contrast the evidence base for targeted early childhood interventions is largely experimental and offers strong guidance....