We examine motivations for prosocial behavior using new data on volunteer firefighters that contain a dictator-game based measure of altruism, surveyed measures of other behavioral factors, and call records that provide an objective measure of time spent volunteering. Controlling for a variety of other explanations, we find that the decision to volunteer is positively correlated with altruism a...

Hedonic Estimation under Very General Conditions Using Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs This paper develops a generalized hedonic model in which an exogenous shock to a single product attribute can affect other attributes, the markets for the product’s complements and substitutes, and aggregate quantity produced. These factors are shown to be empirically relevant and to cause bias in...

The controversy over whether and how much to charge for health products in the developing world rests, in part, on whether higher prices can increase use. We test this hypothesis in a field experiment in Zambia using door-to-door marketing of a home water purification solution. Our methodology separates the screening effect of prices (charging more changes the mix of buyers) from the psychologi...

Health Determinants in Urban China This paper identifies health determinants in urban China applying Grossman model. Using wave of China Health and Nutrition Survey in 2000, we find that education has important positive effect on health, and cost of health care services has significantly negative impact. However, effects of wage rate and household income are insignificant. We also find that reg...

Using data from the 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances, this study examines how the holding of types and amounts of household debt changes over the life cycle. The results show that the likelihood of holding each type of debt and the amount of each type of debt compared to total assets decrease with age. Although the popular press has speculated that older households accumulate excessive amounts ...

Purpose: The paper focuses on the impacts of overweight and obesity on the probability of employment, wages, and the incidence of sick-leave days by gender, in Russia, over the transition period, 1994-2005. Approach: We use panel data and appropriate instrumental variables techniques to estimate a set of three models. Findings: The results show a linear negative effect of BMI on probability of ...

The hypotheses of non-addiction, myopia and rational addiction are tested using annual, quarterly and monthly data. Changes in the prices of Japanese cigarettes can be viewed as exogenous from the point of view of consumer behavior, because the Japanese government controls cigarette prices. The empirical results of this paper support the addiction hypothesis. The short-run and long-run price el...

Digital content services have become an important means of enjoying music, and considerable debate exists over the performance rights of sound recordings. In this paper, we exploit the removal of Warner Music content from YouTube in January 2009, and its restoration in October 2009, as a plausible experimental design to investigate the impact of online content availability on music sales and In...

Charitable Bequests and Wealth at Death Charitable bequests are a major source of income for charities but surprisingly little is known about them. The aim of this paper is to propose a multi-stage framework for analysing the bequest decision and to examine the evidence for Great Britain provided by new data on estates. The novelty of the framework is that it distinguishes between the different...

Do Public Health Interventions Crowd Out Private Health Investments? Malaria Control Policies in Eritrea It is often argued that engaging in indoor residual spraying (IRS) in areas with high coverage of mosquito bed nets may discourage net ownership and use. This is just a case of a public program inducing perverse incentives. We analyze new data from a randomized control trial conducted in Eri...