This paper analyzes qualitatively and quantitatively the e ects of declining mortality rates on fertility, education and economic growth. The analysis demonstrates that if individuals are prudent in the face of uncertainty about child survival, a decline in an exogenous mortality rate reduces...

We set up an open-economy, three-country version of the endogenous- mortality model of Lagerloef (forthcoming in the International Economic Review). The model is calibrated to pre-industrial mortality data from England, France and Sweden. Fitting parameters to match observed rates of correlation...

This research develops an evolutionary growth theory that captures the intricate time path of life expectancy in the process of development, shedding new light on the origin of the remarkable rise in life expectancy since the Agricultural Revolution. The theory argues that social, economic and...

This paper examines the relationship between fertility and human capital investment, and it’s implications for economic growth, focusing on the e ects of declining mortality. Unlike the existing literature, this paper stresses the role of uncertainty about the number of surviving children. If...

The added worker effect states that unemployment of a household member leads to an increase in labour supply of another household member. This paper investigates whether there is such an effect in a developing country. We use a rich data set for urban Ethiopia. We first give a brief description...

This paper studies the relationship between NSF funding and the publications of US economists using data on 1473 applications to NSF during 1985-1990, 414 of which were awarded a research grant. We first outline a basic methodology for assessing the impact of the NSF support for basic research...

In recent years, understanding the structure and function of complex networks has become the foundation for explaining many different real- world complex social, information, biological and technological phenomena. Techniques from statistical physics have been successfully applied to the...

We study the effects of unequal representation in the interest-group system on the degree of information transmission between a lobbyist and a policymaker. Employing a dynamic cheap-talk model in which the lobbyist cares instrumentally about his reputation for truthtelling, we show that the...

This study is part of a continuing program of research into the performance of economic infrastructure industries, which was commenced by the Bureau of Industry Economics. It is the third Waterfront Benchmarking report in the cycle. The study builds on the two previous waterfront studies by...