Using nationally representative rural household panel data from 2003 through 2007 in China, we examine economic gains of cadre status and channels through which cadre status increases household earnings. We find that income of cadre households was approximately 10 percent higher than that of...

Promoting physical activity in children is an important front battling Childhood obesity. This paper investigates if and by how much neighborhood parks and playgrounds, one of the most important activity-enhancing neighborhood facilities, affect childhood obesity. We employ a covariate matching...

This paper examines the relationship between income, pollution, and mortality in China from 1991-2012. Using first-difference models, we document a robust positive association between city-level GDP and life expectancy. We also find a negative association between city-level particulate air...

By exploiting exogenous variation in air quality during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, we estimate the effect of air pollution on mortality in China. We find that a 10-μg/m^3 (roughly 10%) decrease in PM_10 concentrations reduces monthly standardized all-cause mortality by 6.63%. The...

Using a dynamic principal-agent model, we analyze termination damages that protect growers from contract termination or non-renewal. We show that government imposed breach damages can be distortionary and may not necessarily lead to increased grower welfare.

Current legislative proposals consider amendments to child labor laws for U.S. agriculture. Similar amendments, however, have been unsuccessful previously. Using the National Agricultural Workers Survey, we show that child labor is still substantial in the modern U.S. despite some decreases over...

Does the Food Stamp Program (FSP), which provides in-kind transfers to low- income Americans, cause female participants to become obese? This question is particularly important because participants are substantially more likely to be obese than are nonparticipants. This paper estimates the...

This study examines legislation that would grant growers termination damages if their contracts are terminated. Our model suggests that, with no contracting frictions, damages would not reduce ex ante efficiency as processors can contract around damages through contract restructuring. Growers...

In China, Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) are a major tool financing health care consumption in urban areas. Whether MSAs control medical expenditures and encourage saving is based on an assumption that enrollees treat the MSA money the same as their pocket money. This assumption has never been...

This article estimates the effects of food stamp benefits on obesity, overweight and body mass index of low-income women. My analysis differs from previous research in three aspects. First, we exploit a rich longitudinal dataset, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, to distinguish...