In recent years, several countries have implemented restrictive, abstinence-only policies toward reproductive health, as opposed to comprehensive, adolescent-friendly health services. Little is known, however, about the effects of these restrictive policies on adolescent birth rates at the...

We analyzed cigarette smoking among people aged 15 - 24 in approximately 90,000 households in the 1992 - 1999 U.S. Current Population Surveys. We modeled social influence as an informational externality, in which each young person's smoking informs her peers about its coolness.' The resulting...

In recent years, several countries have implemented restrictive, abstinence-only policies toward reproductive health, as opposed to comprehensive, adolescent-friendly health services. Little is known, however, about the effects of these restrictive policies on adolescent birth rates at the...

We analyzed cigarette smoking among people aged 15 - 24 in approximately 90,000 households in the 1992 - 1999 U.S. Current Population Surveys. We modeled social influence as an informational externality, in which each young person's smoking informs her peers about its coolness.' The resulting...