An overview is presented of some parametric and semi-parametric models, estimators, and specification tests that can be used to analyze ordered response variables. In particular, limited dependent variable models that generalize ordered probit are compared to regression models that generalize...

This paper analyzes tobacco demand within a discrete choice framework. Using binomial and multinomial logit models with random effects, and an unbalanced panel data set of Norwegian households over a twenty year period, we first consider the decisions a) whether to smoke or not, and b) given the...

It is a truism that households in developing countries that face idiosyncratic income/expenditure shocks may face difficulties in smoothing consumption through formal credit institutions, and hence rely, at least partially, on informal ties. While this issue has been explored extensively in the...

Empirical models of labour supply adopting the collective approach have commonly used the decentralized representation and a reduced form specification of the sharing rule. This procedure has two crucial drawbacks that in principle make it inappropriate for the very same type of applications...

Empirical welfare analyses often impose stringent parametric assumptions on individuals’ preferences and neglect unobserved preference heterogeneity. In this paper, we develop a framework to conduct individual and social welfare analysis for discrete choice that does not suffer from these...

Empirical studies have found that cannabis commonly precedes consumption of drugs like amphetamine, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin. As a result a causal linkage between cannabis and subsequent hard drug use has been hypothesized. Despite mixed empirical evidence and a limited understanding of...

We estimate a model of labor supply and participation in multiple programs for UK lone mothers which exploits a reform of in-work transfers. Cash entitlements increased but eligibility to in-kind child nutrition programs was lost. We find that in-work cash and inwork in-kind transfers both have...

The extension of subsidized child care is currently on the top of the political agenda in Germany. In this paper the excess demand for subsidized child care slots is estimated using a partial observability model in the style of Abowd and Farber (1982). The results show that more than 50 percent...

This paper estimates the strength and heterogeneity across households in state dependence associated with breakfast cereal consumption, where positive state dependence implies habit persistence and negative state dependence implies variety-seeking in consumption. The analysis relies on a...

Households' choice of the number of leisure trips and the total number of overnight stays is empirically studied using Swedish tourism data. A bivariate hurdle approach separating the participation (to travel and stay the night or not) from the quantity (the number of trips and nights) decision...