This paper develops the theoretical foundations and the testable implications of the variousmechanisms that have been proposed as possible triggers for the demographic transition.Moreover, it examines the empirical validity of each of the theories and their significance forthe understanding of...

We examine the long-run relationship between fertility, mortality, and incomeusing panel cointegration techniques and the available data for the last century.Our main result is that mortality changes and growth of income per capita account for amajor part of the fertility change characterizing...

This paper examines the effects of recent welfare reforms in the US and UK on thewell-being of children in low-income families, looking specifically at the effects onpoverty, family expenditures, and child health and development. The paper finds somecommonalities but also some notable...

The evidence strongly suggests a robust negative relationship between income and fertility, anda positive relationship between income and longevity. This is puzzling for standard dynamicmodels. For instance, altruistic models that use the most standard preferences in macro-timeseparable CRRA...

We investigate the impact of exogenous income fluctuations on health using twenty years ofdata from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics using techniques from the literature on theestimation of dynamic panel data models....

We study the effects of random assignment to coeducational andsingle-sex classes on the academic performance of female highschool students. Our estimation results show that single-sexschooling improves the performance of female students inmathematics. This positive effect increases if the...

Parental involvement in their children’s lives can have a lasting impact on wellbeing.More involved parents convey to their children that they are interested intheir development, and this in turn signals to the child that their future is valued.However, what happens in socio-economically...

This paper investigates the role that discrimination plays in the educational marginalizationof foreign youth commonly observed in European countries with a long guestworkertradition. Economic theory offers two basic explanations for discrimination ofthis form: taste-based discrimination arising...