Many would say that children are society's most precious resource. So, how should we invest in them? To gain insight into this question, a dynamic general equilibrium model is developed where children differ by ability. Parents invest time and money in their offspring, depending on their...

Bailey and Collins (forth.) argue that Greenwood, Seshadri and Vandenbroucke (2005)'s hypothesis that the baby boom was partly due to a burst of productivity in the household sector is not supported by evidence. This conclusion is based upon regression results showing that appliance ownership is...

These short notes supplement the discussion in Greenwood, Seshadri and Yorukoglu (2004) on time-use studies and female labor-force participation.

Electricity was born at the dawn of the last century. Households are inundated with a flood of consumer durables. What was the impact of this consumer goods revolution. It is argued here that the consumer goods revolution was conducive to liberating women from the home. To analyze this...

Electricity was born at the dawn of the last century. Households were inundated with a flood of new consumer durables. What was the impact of this consumer durable goods revolution? It is argued here that the consumer goods revolution was conducive to liberating women from the home. To analyse...

What caused the baby boom? And can it be explained within the context of the secular decline in fertility that has occurred over the last 200 years? The hypothesis is that:(a) The secular decline in fertility is due to the relentless rise in real wages that increased the opportunity cost of...

Electricity was born at the dawn of the last century. Households were inundated with a flood of new consumer durable goods. What was the impact of this consumer durable goods revolution? It is argued here that the consumer goods revolution liberated women from the home. To analyze this...

Growth theory can go a long way toward accounting for phenomena linked with U.S. economic development. Some examples are:(i) the secular decline in fertility between 1800 and 1980,(ii) the decline in agricultural employment and the rise in skill since 1800,(iii) the demise of child labor...

Between 1800 and 1940, the United States went through a dramatic demographic transition. In 1800, the average woman had seven children, and 94 percent of the population lived in rural areas. By 1940, the average woman birthed just two kids, and only 43 percent of the populace lived in the...