Houses are the most important asset on American households' balance sheets, rendering the U.S. economy sensitive to house prices. There is a consensus that credit conditions affect house prices, but to what extent remains controversial, as an expansion in credit supply often coincides with...

In 1936, the US government enacted the later-known Bonus Act, which triggered cash transfers to about 3 million veterans who had served in World War I. This paper studies the long-run benefits of veterans’ bonus receipt on their children’s old-age longevity. We employ data from Social...

Do veterans earn less? During WW I, the US organized "the greatest human lottery in history": a random draft of 24 million men. Ultimately, 2.8 million Americans were selected to join the armed forces. We sample 10% of registrants of the 1917 lottery and match these men with the 1930 and 1940 US...