Some proponents of higher minimum wages cite reduced absenteeism as a positive side-effect. However, little evidence on the relationship between minimum wages and absenteeism exists for the United States. This paper examines the effect of minimum wages on absenteeism using data from the Merged...

This paper documents the existence of a negative cross-sectional correlation between the price of living space and fertility using U.S. Census data over the period 1940-2000. This correlation is not spurious, nor does it reflect the tendency of larger families to locate within less-expensive...

Research on the microeconomic foundations for the sorting of the college educated across cities has focused on complementarity between individuals’ human capital and city size. Less explored is the possibility that there exists O-ring complementarity between highly educated workers (Kremer,...

We present a model capable of explaining 200 years of declining fertility, 200 years of rising educational achievement and a significant Baby Boom for the United States and twenty other industrialized market countries. We highlight the importance of secularly declining young adult mortality risk...

We present new data on the fertility of blacks, 1820 to 2000, and whites, 1800 to 2000, by state. We present new data on schooling by race and cohort from 1840 to 2000. We present data on mortality for whites, 1800 to 2000, and blacks, 1820 to 2000, by state. The data indicate convergence in all...

Comparing the safety of prescription drugs over time is difficult due to the paucity of reliable quantitative measures of drug safety. Both the academic literature and popular press have focused on drug withdrawals as a proxy for breakdowns in the drug safety system. This metric, however, is...

Comparing the safety of prescription drugs over time is difficult due to the paucity of reliable quantitative measures of drug safety. Both the academic literature and popular press have focused on drug withdrawals as a proxy for breakdowns in the drug safety system. This metric, however, is...

FDA-approval times have declined significantly since the enactment of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) in 1992. As a result, present value expected returns to pharmaceutical R&D have likely increased. In the current paper we employ a unique survey dataset, which includes for the first...