Economists have long studied the determinants and effects of income transfers. This article examines an indirect effect of welfare payments on participating individuals: an increase in the incidence of sexually transmitted disease (<link rid="b4">STD</link>) rates. Copyright 2006 American Journal of Economics and...

Previous research has studied the effects of welfare payments under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program on incentives and behavior. By lowering the cost of raising children, states with larger welfare payments have higher rates of fertility among poor women, an adverse...

A dramatic decline in newspaper consumption has been observed in recent years. This paper offers a theoretical justification for this phenomenon based on the opportunity cost of household time. A rising labor force participation rate, which proxies the opportunity cost of household production,...

G. S. Becker's model of time inputs in household production is tested in this paper utilizing home versus restaurant food production and consumption. Tests of the model show that both the ratio of restaurant to total meal consumption and the ratio of fast food to restaurant meals are positively...

Utilizing an established economic framework grounded in Becker's (1981) path-breaking analysis of altruism and envy within the family, this paper explores the determinants of hate crimes, also known as bias-motivated crimes. Making use of a unique data set on hate crimes compiled by the FBI, we...

Is there a link between designated driver usage and alcohol consumption? We hypothesize that the use of a designated driver lowers the cost of drinking which, in turn, increases alcohol consumption. We examine the effect on drinking intensity (which incorporates low levels of alcohol use) and...