The historical fertility transition is one of the most important events in economic history. This study provides new evidence on the role that ideas about family planning played in this transition. We begin by documenting a link between the famous Bradlaugh-Besant trial that took place in...

A large literature following Ruhm (2000) suggests that mortality falls during recessions and rises during booms. The panel-data approach used to generate these results assumes that either there is no substantial migration response to temporary changes in local economic conditions, or that any...

Vellore Arthi, Brian Beach and W. Walker Hanlon (2022) investigate the effect of the Lancashire Cotton Famine on mortality, accounting for the migration response to the downturn. They use difference-in-differences to estimate the effect of the cotton famine on mortality. To account for the...

A good understanding of the constraints on agricultural growth in Africa relies on the accurate measurement of smallholder labor. Yet, serious weaknesses in these statistics persist. The extent of bias in smallholder labor data is examined by conducting a randomized survey experiment among...

Can granting IP protection to producers of one good affect the innovation rate in other related goods? To answer this question we exploit a unique policy experiment in the inter-war military aircraft industry. Airframe designs had little IP protection before 1926, but changes passed by Congress...

This study provides new evidence on the impact of air pollution in a high-pollution high-mortality setting: London over the century from 1866-1965. I identify pollution effects by comparing detailed new weekly mortality data to the timing of London's famous fog events, which trapped emissions in...