This paper argues that conflicting results from previous literature—related to the effect of economic conditions on child labor—derive from different income and substitution effects implicit in different types of income variation. We use agricultural shocks to local economic activity in...

Summary We analyze the role of gender and ethnicity in the work-school tradeoff among school-aged children. We observe domestic chores in Bolivian data and consider them work, finding that girls are 51% more likely than boys to be out of school and working, mostly in domestic activities. For...

Using disaggregated bilateral trade data, we find that the elasticity of trade to distance increased (in absolute value) by about 10% since 1985. To explore the reasons for this shift, we decompose the change in the distance elasticity of trade into the part due to a shift in the composition of...

This essay reviews many of the less considered consequences of the war on drugs, particularly the consequences for developing countries, and weighs them against the evidence that exists regarding the likely efficacy of current strategies to curb drug use and trade. The most important unintended...