In this paper we show that optimistic financial expectations impact positively on both the uantity of debt and the growth in debt, at the individual and household levels. Our heoretical model shows that this association is predicted under a variety of plausible cenarios. In the empirical...

Most immigrant groups in the UK experience higher unemployment rates than otherwise similar UK born whites. Empirical research to date has attributed this finding to discrimination, lack of English Language fluency and the (non-) transferability of skills acquired before immigration. In this...

In this paper we investigate if there was a causal effect of changes in current and 'permanent' income on the health of East Germans in the years following reunification. Reunification was completely unanticipated and therefore can be seen as providing some exogenous variation, which resulted in...

The socio-economic gradient in health remains a controversial topic in economics and other social sciences. In this paper we develop a new duration model that allows for unobserved persistent individual-specific health shocks and provides new evidence on the roles of socio-economic...

Physical inactivity is recognised as an important precursor of chronic ill health. It is also recognised as a modifiable health behaviour, so knowing who is physically inactive is important for design of policy interventions to reverse the increase in physical inactivity. Studies examining the...

Passive smoking is a major public health issue. This paper documents the main risk factors that determine children's exposure to passive smoke, and then uses econometric techniques to provide a new economic quantification of the impact of this exposure on child health. Such information is...

This paper investigates the determinants of racial harassment at the workplace and its impact, via job satisfaction, on intentions to quit. Using data for ethnic minority nurses in Britain, we find that nearly 40% of nurses have experienced racial harassment from work colleagues, whilst more...