A non-trivial portion of traffic fatalities involve alcohol or illicit drugs. But does the use of alcohol and illegal substances - which is linked to depression, suicide, and criminal activity - also reduce academic performance? Recent studies suggest that drinking alcohol has a negative, if...

This paper uses the 2005 and 2006 China General Social Survey (CGSS) to study the relationship between social capital and self-reported health in China. It is the most comprehensive analysis of this subject to date, both in the sizes of the samples it analyses, in the number of social capital...

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are currently the leading cause of death worldwide. In this paper, we examine the channels through which economic growth affects NCDs' epidemiology. Following a production function approach, we develop a basic technique to break up the impact of economic growth...

We analyze the effect of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums on employment and annual wages in the US using a county-level panel dataset for the period 2005-2010. Using variation in medical malpractice payments and variation in medical malpractice legislation over time and within states...

This paper investigates the returns to education in terms of individuals' health in Brazil. We use the Heckman procedure (1979) and a nonlinear model that allows the consideration of the existence of increasing returns. The study employs microdata from National Survey by Household Sample for...

This dissertation consists of five distinct empirical papers covering two large areas of research that are rather independent from each other: the economics of ageing and the economics of innovation. The first three chapters cover the impact of intergeneration interaction on the parents of adult...