background: it is estimated that major depression disorders constitute 8.2% of years lived with disability (ylds) globally. the repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rtms) and electroconvulsive therapy (ect) are two relative common interventions to treat major depressive disorders, especially for treatment resistant depression. in this study the cost- effectiveness and cost-utility of r...

How much does disease depress development in human capital and income around the world? I discuss a range of micro evidence, which finds that health is both human capital itself and an input to producing other forms of human capital. I use a standard model to integrate these results, and suggest a re-interpretation of much of the micro literature. I then discuss the aggregate implications of mi...

Malthusian conditions are a byword for stagnation. We argue that this view is wrong. Europe’s relative riches in 1700 are best understood as the result of Malthusian forces favoring high per capita output. Favorable shifts in mortality and fertility schedules were responsible. Incomes between 1300 and 1800 rose because of two related but distinct European “inventions”—a peculiar marriage patter...

One potential consequence of rising concentration of income at the top of the distribution is increased borrowing, as less affluent households attempt to maintain standards of living with less income. This paper explores the “keeping up with the Joneses” phenomenon using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances. Specifically, it examines the responsiveness of payment-toincome ratios for differ...

This paper presents new findings from the World Top Incomes Database and discusses some of their policy implications. In particular, the paper provides updated top income series for the United States—including new estimates through 2010, showing a strong rebound of the top 1 percent income share, following the 2008–09 sharp fall. It also presents updated income series for other developed countr...

The US government accumulated a large amount of debt from WWII. The government debt-to-GDP ratio in the US peaked at 108% in 1946. This ratio dropped dramatically in the following two decades, to 35% in 1966. Simultaneously, the US experienced a massive baby boom. This paper studies the relationship between these two phenomena in a modified version of the Barro-Becker model. In the model, the g...

The vast majority of health plans in the United States require patients to meet cost-sharing requirements that are unrelated to income. Because this is highly inequitable, the authors propose a new system in which cost sharing is explicitly linked to income levels. This proposal differs from earlier proposals to relate cost sharing to income, which relied on the federal income tax system. In th...

I estimate a model that frames college enrollment as an experiment, which can result in drop-out or graduation. The decision to participate in this experiment depends on the expected suitability for college, the degree of uncertainty about this suitability, and the cost of failing the experiment (dropping out) relative to the benefit of succeeding (graduating). I find that 26% of the high-schoo...