Many governments provide monetary transfers to low-income families. The mechanism through which these subsidies are distributed may contain several inefficiencies that diminish the net-value obtained by the recipients. In this paper, we build and estimate a behavioral dynamic model that allows...

The evidence strongly suggests a robust negative relationship between income and fertility, and a positive relationship between income and longevity. This is puzzling for standard dynamic models. For instance, altruistic models that use the most standard preferences in macro --time separable...

This paper studies the marriage timing decisions of young men and women in China. The data set is a sample of Chinese couples with ample variations in marriage market features, personal characteristics, and regional patterns of growth. Exploiting the differences in marriage timing among the...

Despite strong recent economic growth, gender inequality remains a major concern for India. This paper examines the effectiveness of a public policy geared towards the reduction of gender inequality. The national Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques (PNDT) Act of 1994, implemented...

Recently, Jones (2002} and Barro and Sala-í-Martin (2004) pointed out that the neoclassical growth model with a Cobb-Douglas technology has a closed-form solution. This note makes a similar remark for the Malthusian model: I develop and characterize a closed-form solution. Moreover, I emphasize...

This study examines the extent to which changes in household formation exacerbated income inequality in the United States during the last two generations. Using a time-varying parameter model, the impact on how marriage decisions, changes in human capital, and fertility choices influence...

In recent decades economists have turned their attention to data that asks people how happy or satisfied they are with their lives. Much of the early research concluded that the role of income in determining well-being was limited, and that only income relative to others was related to...