We estimate sibling correlations in health status using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We use Bayesian methods to estimate the covariance structure of a system of latent variable equations. Across a battery of outcomes, we estimate that between 50% and 60% of health status can be attributed...

Kilauea volcano is the largest stationary source of SO2 pollution in the United States of America. Moreover, the SO2 that the volcano emits eventually forms particulate matter, another major pollutant. We use this exogenous SO2 on emergency room admissions and costs in the state of Hawaii....

We derive the precise analytic limit of the variance estimator of g, the concentrated ML estimator of gamma-naught in the adaptive regression model, and show that the limit and the original estimator generate virtually identical estimates of the variance of g and the corresponding significance...

The negative first-lag autocorrelation of monthly consumption changes rejects the continuous-time random walk model of consumption. This paper addresses the question of whether data distortions due to measurement errors or seasonal adjustment procedures may explain this negative autocorrelation,...

We examine impact of natural disasters on annual output and output growth in Vietnam. Using provincial data for primary and secondary industries in Vietnam, we employ the Blundell-Bond System GMM procedure to estimate the impact of disasters on the macro-economy. Results show that more lethal...

Hurricane Iniki, that hit the island of Kauai on September 11th, 1992, was the strongest hurricane that hit the Hawaiian Islands in recorded history, and the one that wrought the most damage, estimated at 7.4 billion (in 2008 US$). We provide an assessment of Hawaii’s vulnerability to...

The received wisdom is that the devastation wrought by the 1995 Kobe earthquake did not have any long-term impact on the Japanese economy, nor much impact on Kobe itself. We re-evaluate the evidence using a new methodology, synthetic control, and find a persistent and still continuing adverse...

In this paper, we analyze the evolution of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to developing and emerging countries around financial crises. We empirically and thoroughly examine the Fire-Sale FDI hypothesis and describe the pattern of FDI inflows surrounding financial crises. We also add a...

This paper compares public land privatization in New South Wales and the Province of Buenos Aires,in the early nineteenth century. Both claimed frontier lands as public lands for raising revenue. New South Wales failed to enforce its claim. Property rights originated as de facto squatters’...