This paper focuses on three key choices a young woman faces that can result in a live birth: (1) whether to have sex or not; (2) if so, whether to contracept or not; and (3) if she becomes pregnant, whether to have an abortion or not. This paper analyzes these three conditional choices...

Low levels of human capital ivnestment in poor countries have important implications for economic growth, distribution, and social conditions -- and competing explanations for the low levels have been suggested. The most prominent explanations cite low returns, parental preferences, cultural...

Using data from the New Haven EPESE, we examine the relationship between family structure and the risk of first nursing home admission.

This paper attempts to draw together what we know today about the likely effects of welfare reform on abortion and to outline promising strategies for evaluating the actual effects of the limited reforms to date and the wider reforms which are likely to follow. The paper opens with a brief...

Human exposure to lead represents a serious environmental health problem in many urban areas. Based on a review of health and technical issues, th is report points out that the phase-out of lead from gasoline is a desirable policy measure which can yield significant social benefits. Country...

This paper presents and tests a model of cigarette consumption which mixes two types of intertemporal dependencies : habit-formation and learning about the health conseqences of smoking. This latter is argued to result from the observation of health developments, both one's own and those of...

I explore the connection between income inequality and health in both poor and rich countries. I discuss a range of mechanisms, including nonlinear income effects, credit restrictions, nutritional traps, public goods provision, and relative deprivation. I review the evidence on the effects of...

Birth defects occur in population in 3-5% of births. All those birth defects due to chromosomal errors, hundreds of those due to single genes and many of those due to unknown or multifactoral cause can be detected prenatally. However, it is not feasible to test all pregnancies for all of these...