By examining how student borrowers fare financially after graduation, we attempt to further the existing knowledge of the costs associated with education debt and the manageability of the typical debt burden. We compare the financial stability of individuals who have borrowed for education to...

We introduce the idea that easily inferable demographic characteristics such as gender may not be sufficient to define type in the supervisor-employee mentoring relationship. We use longitudinal data on athletic directors at NCAA Division I programs to identify through observed mobility the...

Previous research generally finds that obesity negatively affects wages for women and does not affect wages for men. But this literature has for the most part focused on young workers and has not examined whether the effect of obesity might change as people age. In this essay, I examine the...

Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) are small (typically physician owned) healthcare facilities that specialize in performing outpatient surgeries and therefore compete against hospitals for patients. Physicians who own ASCs could potentially treat their most profitable patients at their ASCs and...

This essay explores the relationship between commerce and culture in the context of the recent debate over the social effect of Wal-Mart. In spite of much public debate, little is known about how Wal-Mart affects values. Using data collected from multiple sources, we show there is little...

Hospital administrators have expressed concern that ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) lower the profitability of hospitals' outpatient departments by reducing their volume and cherry picking their most profitable patients. This could lead to welfare losses by causing hospitals to reduce their...

Research attributes much of the rise in obesity to technological progress reducing the cost of food consumption. We examine this hypothesis in the context of Walmart Supercenters, whose advancements in retail logistics have translated to substantial reductions in food prices. Using data from the...

I find evidence of a negative association between gasoline prices and body weight using a fixed effects model with several robustness checks. I also show that increases in gas prices are associated with additional walking and a reduction in the frequency with which people eat at restaurants,...

“Peak oil” refers to the future decline in world production of crude oil and to the accompanying potentially calamitous effects. The peak oil literature typically rejects economic analysis. This chapter, following Holland (2008), argues that economic analysis is indeed appropriate for...

Economic factors such as wages may have different influences on meal production and consumption times. Previous research has typically investigated only production or consumption time, and has produced mixed results. After developing a stylized model that illustrates how higher wages may reduce...