We examine the impact of three sets of government regulations on the demand for cigarettes by teenagers in the United States. These are: (1) the excise tax on cigarettes, (2) the Fairness Doctrine of the Federal Communications Commission, which resulted in the airing of anti-smoking messages on...

We examine the potential for reducing cigarette smoking through increases in cigarette excise taxes by estimating the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes. Using information on individual smoking behavior for a sample of adults in the 1976 Health Interview Survey, we estimate the adult...

Based on an analysis of the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted between 1976 and 1980, we find that the frequency of the consumption of beer, the most popular alcoholic beverage among youths, is inversely related to the real price of beer and to the minimum legal...

Prior to 1985, ten states adopted some kind of indexing provisions for their personal income tax systems. Seven of these states subsequently suspended their indexing laws for one or more years. In this paper we examine the states' experience with income tax indexing and see what lessons can be...

In this paper empirical evidence is presented on the determinants of obesity in youth in the U.S., with particular emphasis on isolating the effects of diet and parent's fatness on the obesity outcome. The results show that parents fatness has statistically important impacts on skinfold growth...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the market for optometric services in the United States. This paper is divided into seven sections. In the first section an overview of the practice of optometry is presented. This is succeeded by an examination of the distribution of eye health...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the production process of optometrists in private practice. This study will then provide further evidence on the entrepreneurial performance of primary health professionals in private practice. If optometrists also appear to be using inefficient production...

A population of seven general surgeons in a prepaid group practice previously shown to have a mean operative work load of 9.2 HE per week were found to have a mean standardized seven day working week of 56.2 hours exclusive of evening activities. The surgeons also devoted a mean of 6.7 evening...

The median operative workload of seven general surgeons comprising the general surgical staff of a prepaid group practice of 158,000 enrollees was 9.9 hernia equivalents (HE) a week. The value was over three times that of a previously studied population of 19 general surgeons in fee-for-service...

The chronic health care crisis in the United States is primarily the result of rapidly rising health care costs which leave millions of children and pregnant women without health insurance, with restricted access to health care, and at risk for poor health. A better understanding of the current...