While childhood obesity has become a significant public health concern over the last few decades, knowledge concerning the origins of or persistence in childhood anthropometric measures is incomplete. Here, we utilize several nonparametric measures of mobility to assess the evolution of weight,...

Rates of childhood obesity have increased dramatically in the last few decades. Non-causal evidence suggests that childhood obesity is highly persistent over the life cycle. However little is known about the origins of this persistence. In this paper we attempt to answer three questions. First,...

We exploit a quasi-experimental setting provided by an election day with multiple polls to estimate the effect of voters' turnout on the spread of new COVID-19 infections and to quantify the policy trade-off implied by postponing elections during high infection periods. We show that post-poll...

The purpose of this study is to analyse the determinants of life expectancy as proxy for health status of the OECD countries' population. A production function of health is used to explain expectancy life at birth for total and ageing population and according to gender. Socio-economic factors,...

This brief article investigates the consequences of improving children's iron status for malaria parasite loads by analyzing data from Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia, and Tanzania; the treatment of iron deficiencies has been argued to flare up malaria in under-nourished populations. The data from a...

Although product advertising has been widely studied and understood in relation to the consumer’s purchase decision, advertising may also have unintended but important societal and economic consequences. In this paper, we examine a public health outcome — birth rate — associated with...

This paper evaluates the negative causal effect of environmental tobacco exposure on health by exploiting the time and geographical variation in public-place smoking bans implemented in Switzerland between 2007 and 2011. Using monthly data from the universe of Swiss hospitals between 2004 and...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the links between health status, education and economic growth in Portugal. Focus is given to the achievements made in infant mortality rate which represents the most significant reduction among the OECD countries in the last decades. While this very positive...

Although the elderly are more vulnerable to COVID-19, the empirical evidence suggests that they do not behave more cautiously in the pandemic than younger individuals. This theoretical model argues that some individuals might not comply with the COVID-19 measures to reassure themselves that they...