In contrast to West-Germany, illicit drugs were virtually absent in the East-Germany until 1990. Yet, after the collapse of the former GDR, East-Germany was expected to encounter a sharp increase in the prevalence of substance abuse. By analyzing individual data, we find that East-Germany...

The question of whether two drugs - namely alcohol and tobacco - are used as complements or substitutes is of crucial interest if side-effects of anti-drug policies are considered. Numerous papers have empirically addressed this issue by estimating demand systems for alcohol and tobacco and...

This paper provides non-parametric estimates of the relation between nutrient intake and age for Czechoslovak individuals, as a function of characteristics of both the individual and the household she lives in, on the basis of household purchases. Results show no significant difference between...

In contrast to West Germany, illicit drugs were virtually absent in East Germany until 1990. However, after the collapse of the former GDR, East Germany was expected to encounter a sharp increase in substance abuse. By analyzing individual data, we find that East Germany largely caught up with...

In der vorliegenden Studie wird anhand von Daten einer prospektiven Längsschnittstudie (Mannheimer Risikokinderstudie) untersucht, welchen Beitrag die Qualität der Mutter-Kind-Interaktion (MKI) im Säuglingsalter zur Vorhersage kognitiver (IQ) und nicht-kognitiver Fähigkeiten (Persistenz) bis...

The red herring hypothesis contends that the high health care expenditure in old age is caused by proximity to death rather than calendar age. Dissenters point to longitudinal data and claim that health care expenditure age profiles tend to steepen over time. The present paper tests the...

This paper examines the impact of outdoor and indoor pollution on children's health from birth until the age of three years in Germany. We use representative data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), combined with five air pollution levels. These data come from the Federal Environment...

The use of environmental policy instruments such as eco-labelling and pesticide taxes should preferably be based on disaggregate estimates of the individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for pesticide risk reductions. We review the empirical valuation literature dealing with pesticide risk exposure...

Recent research claims that the major part of the observed reduction in suicide rates during the 1990's can be explained by the increase in the prescription of antidepressants. This conclusion is however based on research that only looks at raw correlations; confounding effects from other...

The positive association between moderate alcohol consumption and wages is well documented in the economic literature. Positive health effects as well as networking mechanisms serve as explanations for the alcohol-income puzzle. Using individual-based microdata from the GSOEP for 2006, we...