Several recent surveys have asked Americans whether they support policies to reduce childhood obesity. There is reason for skepticism of such surveys because people are not confronted with the tax costs of such policies when they are asked whether they support them. This paper uses contingent...

Virtually all social science research related to obesity uses body mass index (BMI), usually calculated using self-reported values of weight and height, or clinical weight classifications based on BMI. Yet there is wide agreement in the medical literature that such measures are seriously flawed...

In September 1997, the anti-obesity drugs Pondimin and Redux, ingredients in the popular drug combination fen-phen, were withdrawn from the market for causing potentially fatal side effects. That event provides an opportunity for studying how consumers respond to drug withdrawals. In theory,...

CHAPTER 1: The Great Russian Devaluation and Labor DemandDoes a greater degree of integration into world markets lead to a more elastic demand for labor? Often referred to as the Rodrik hypothesis, this question, despite being important from both theoretical and applied policy standpoints, is...

CHAPTER 1 (with Joris Pinkse, Margaret Slade, and John Van Reenen): Spillovers in Space: Does Geography Matter?We simultaneously assess the contributions to productivity of three sources of research and development spillovers: geographic, technology and product--market proximity. To do this, we...

CHAPTER 1: Income Distribution, Market Structure, and Individual WelfareThis essay proposes a new insight on how income distribution influences market structure and affects the economic well-being of different groups. It shows that inequality may be good for the poor via a trickle-down effect...