An econometric model of the US softwood lumber and timber markets is estimated and used to simulate the price, trade, and welfare effects of reductions in federal timber sales in the western US commencing in the late 1980s. Results indicate that the timber sale reductions increased lumber prices by roughly 15 percent in the mid-1990s. Lumber consumers were the unambiguous losers from the policy...

In the last fifteen years, the automatic payment in Portugal has showed periods of very strong growth. In fact, the present Portuguese banking net system has a capacity of more than 90.600 point-of-sale machines, where it is allowed to buy and pay any service in a very comfortable way. Due to the great impact that this service has been getting on the Portuguese population since its appearance i...

We use detailed income, balance sheet, and cash flow statements constructed for households in a long monthly panel in an emerging market economy, and some recent contributions in economic theory, to document and better understand the factors underlying success in achieving upward mobility in the distribution of net worth. Wealth inequality is decreasing over time, and many households work their...

I estimate the extent to which modi cations of privately securitized mortgages increased or forgave debt during the Great Recession and aftermath, from 2008-2014. I nd that loan modi cations weakened household balance sheets by adding $20 billion to household debt, with the net amount of debt added per modi cation doubling from 2010-2014. Using a decomposition analysis, I also nd that the incre...

Due to poverty, serious soil erosion and shortage of rural household energy in Loess Hilly Region, Gansu Province, China, excessive consumption of biofuel has become a critical factor underlying eco-environment degeneration. Data on rural household energy use was obtained by questionnaires, and based on substitutable analysis, environmental and economic costs under different energy consumption ...

We show that deterioration in household balance sheets, or the housing net worth channel, played a significant role in the sharp decline in U.S. employment between 2007 and 2009. Counties with a larger decline in housing net worth experience a larger decline in non-tradable employment. This result is not driven by industry-specific supplyside shocks, exposure to the construction sector, policy-...

Using micro-level household data in the 2001 Comprehensive Survey of the Living Conditions of the People on Health and Welfare compiled by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, this paper examines how having a household member in need of long-term nursing care can result in welfare losses measured in terms of consumption. In so doing, this study evaluates the role of the public lo...

Private monetary transfers from parents to adult children living in a separate household constitute an important share of aggregate net worth in the economies of major economies like the United States or Germany. Evidence from the United States from the middle eighties suggests that parental intervivos transfers gifts given from living parents to adult childrenare the source of at least 11 perc...

Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Liberia. At the same time, insecticide-treated net (ITN) ownership and use remain low. Access is a key determinant of ITN use but it is not the only one; prior studies have identified factors that affect the use of ITNs in households with at least one ITN. These factors operate at the individual, household, and community levels. However, st...

In December 2004, Togo was the first country to conduct a nationwide free insecticide-treated net (ITN) distribution as part of its National Integrated Child Health Campaign. Community-based cross-sectional surveys were conducted one and nine months post-campaign as part of a multidisciplinary evaluation of the nationwide distribution of ITNs to children 9-59 months of age to evaluate ITN owner...