This study investigates the relation between human capital depreciation during family-related career interruptions and occupational choice of women in the (West) German labour market. In contrast to other studies that do not explicitly focus on family-related career interruptions, we find that...

The paper analyses the effect of interest rate changes on education and child labor in an economy with a high-skilled sector, a low-skilled sector and fragmented credit markets. The high-skilled sector takes educated labor as input. The low-skilled sector takes unskilled labor, physical capital...

Sleep is a source of energy. This energy is available in limited quantity and individuals must decide when it should be renewed and when it should be consumed. The economics of sleeping and the economics of resource extraction are one and the same. More specifically, utility maximization with...

Programs that increase the economic capacity of poor women can have cascading effects on children's participation in school and work that are theoretically undetermined. We present a simple model to describe the possible channels through which these programs may affect children's activities....

This paper presents Gary Becker's approach to conducting creative, empirically fruitful economic research. It describes the traits and methodology that made him such a productive and influential scholar.

In theory, unilateral divorce laws alter the private incentive to invest in human capital by permitting either spouse to initiate the division of the marital assets. Using several causal research designs we show that both men and women are less likely to attain a bachelor's degree in states with...

This paper develops a novel model of marital sorting on income potentials: In the marriage market, people are matching on potential wage growth rates which differ across individuals. Gains from marriage arise from intra-household specialization as couples make joint decisions on how much time to...

Programs that increase the economic capacity of poor women can have cascading effects on children's participation in school and work that are theoretically undetermined. We present a simple model to describe the possible channels through which these programs may affect children's activities....

Incorporating family decisions in a two-period-model of the world economy, we show that trade liberalization may reduce child labour in developing countries where the initial share of skilled workers in the adult workforce – though not as large as in developed countries – is nonetheless...

I analyze a model of human capital development in the presence of peer effects. Parents invest in their child, and this investment conveys a positive externality upon the child’s peers. Parents also acquire wealth, which i) finances consumption, and ii) determines a child’s peer group. I...