We address points raised by Anderson, Charles, and Rees (2022b), which comments on our prior work. After correcting unambiguous data mistakes, our revised estimates suggest that municipal water disinfection (filtration) explains 38 percent of the total mortality rate decline in our sample cities and years—a result not very different from our original estimate of 43 percent. However, effects on infant mortality rates are smaller than in our original analysis. Much of the difference between their analyses and ours is due to the coding of partial intervention years and to differences in population denominators, for which ideal data are difficult to find. (JEL H75, I12, I18, J13, Q18, Q51, Q53)
{"title":"Reexamining the Contribution of Public Health Efforts to the Decline in Urban Mortality: Comment","authors":"David M. Cutler, Grant Miller","doi":"10.1257/app.20190711","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20190711","url":null,"abstract":"We address points raised by Anderson, Charles, and Rees (2022b), which comments on our prior work. After correcting unambiguous data mistakes, our revised estimates suggest that municipal water disinfection (filtration) explains 38 percent of the total mortality rate decline in our sample cities and years—a result not very different from our original estimate of 43 percent. However, effects on infant mortality rates are smaller than in our original analysis. Much of the difference between their analyses and ours is due to the coding of partial intervention years and to differences in population denominators, for which ideal data are difficult to find. (JEL H75, I12, I18, J13, Q18, Q51, Q53)","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85903269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lester Lusher,Geoffrey C. Schnorr,Rebecca L.C. Taylor
We provide causal evidence of an ex ante moral hazard effect of unemployment insurance (UI ) by matching plausibly exogenous changes in UI benefit duration across state-weeks during the Great Recession to high-frequency productivity measures from individual supermarket cashiers. Estimating models with date and cashier-register fixed effects, we identify a modest but statistically significant negative relationship between UI benefits and worker productivity. This effect is strongest for more experienced and less productive cashiers, for whom UI expansions are especially relevant. Additional analyses from the American Time Use Survey reveal a similar increase in shirking during periods with increased UI benefit durations. (JEL D82, E32, J22, J24, J65, L81)
{"title":"Unemployment Insurance as a Worker Indiscipline Device? Evidence from Scanner Data","authors":"Lester Lusher,Geoffrey C. Schnorr,Rebecca L.C. Taylor","doi":"10.1257/app.20190007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20190007","url":null,"abstract":"We provide causal evidence of an ex ante moral hazard effect of unemployment insurance (UI ) by matching plausibly exogenous changes in UI benefit duration across state-weeks during the Great Recession to high-frequency productivity measures from individual supermarket cashiers. Estimating models with date and cashier-register fixed effects, we identify a modest but statistically significant negative relationship between UI benefits and worker productivity. This effect is strongest for more experienced and less productive cashiers, for whom UI expansions are especially relevant. Additional analyses from the American Time Use Survey reveal a similar increase in shirking during periods with increased UI benefit durations. (JEL D82, E32, J22, J24, J65, L81)","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"19 16","pages":"285-319"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138506350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We investigate the wage return to studying economics by leveraging a policy that prevented students with low introductory grades from declaring a major. Students who barely met the grade point average threshold to major in economics earned $22,000 (46 percent) higher annual early-career wages than they would have with their second-choice majors. Access to the economics major shifts students' preferences toward business/finance careers, and about half of the wage return is explained by economics majors working in higher-paying industries. The causal return to majoring in economics is very similar to observational earnings differences in nationally representative data. (JEL A22, I26, J24, J31)
{"title":"Will Studying Economics Make You Rich? A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of the Returns to College Major","authors":"Zachary Bleemer,Aashish Mehta","doi":"10.1257/app.20200447","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20200447","url":null,"abstract":"We investigate the wage return to studying economics by leveraging a policy that prevented students with low introductory grades from declaring a major. Students who barely met the grade point average threshold to major in economics earned $22,000 (46 percent) higher annual early-career wages than they would have with their second-choice majors. Access to the economics major shifts students' preferences toward business/finance careers, and about half of the wage return is explained by economics majors working in higher-paying industries. The causal return to majoring in economics is very similar to observational earnings differences in nationally representative data. (JEL A22, I26, J24, J31)","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"879 11","pages":"1-22"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138506295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Online professional networking platforms are widely used and may help workers to search for and obtain jobs. We run the first randomized evaluation of training work seekers to join and use one of the largest platforms, LinkedIn. Training increases the end-of-program employment rate by 10 percent (7 percentage points), and this effect persists for at least 12 months. The available employment, platform use, and job search data suggest that employment effects are explained by work seekers using the platform to acquire information about prospective employers and perhaps by work seekers accessing referrals and conveying information to prospective employers on the platform. (JEL J22, J23, J24, J64, M53, O15)
{"title":"LinkedIn(to) Job Opportunities: Experimental Evidence from Job Readiness Training","authors":"Laurel Wheeler,Robert Garlick,Eric Johnson,Patrick Shaw,Marissa Gargano","doi":"10.1257/app.20200025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20200025","url":null,"abstract":"Online professional networking platforms are widely used and may help workers to search for and obtain jobs. We run the first randomized evaluation of training work seekers to join and use one of the largest platforms, LinkedIn. Training increases the end-of-program employment rate by 10 percent (7 percentage points), and this effect persists for at least 12 months. The available employment, platform use, and job search data suggest that employment effects are explained by work seekers using the platform to acquire information about prospective employers and perhaps by work seekers accessing referrals and conveying information to prospective employers on the platform. (JEL J22, J23, J24, J64, M53, O15)","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"879 3","pages":"101-125"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138506296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We use data from Airbnb to identify the mechanisms underlying discrimination against ethnic minority hosts. Within the same neighborhood, hosts from minority groups charge 3.2 percent less for comparable listings. Since ratings provide guests with increasingly rich information about a listing’s quality, we can measure the contribution of statistical discrimination, building upon Altonji and Pierret (2001). We find that statistical discrimination can account for the whole ethnic price gap: ethnic gaps would disappear if all unobservables were revealed. Also, three-quarters (2.5 points) of the initial ethnic gap can be attributed to inaccurate beliefs of potential guests about hosts’ average group quality. (JEL D83, J15, L84)
{"title":"Can Information Reduce Ethnic Discrimination? Evidence from Airbnb","authors":"Morgane Laouénan, Roland Rathelot","doi":"10.1257/app.20190188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20190188","url":null,"abstract":"We use data from Airbnb to identify the mechanisms underlying discrimination against ethnic minority hosts. Within the same neighborhood, hosts from minority groups charge 3.2 percent less for comparable listings. Since ratings provide guests with increasingly rich information about a listing’s quality, we can measure the contribution of statistical discrimination, building upon Altonji and Pierret (2001). We find that statistical discrimination can account for the whole ethnic price gap: ethnic gaps would disappear if all unobservables were revealed. Also, three-quarters (2.5 points) of the initial ethnic gap can be attributed to inaccurate beliefs of potential guests about hosts’ average group quality. (JEL D83, J15, L84)","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90349366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In an experiment in Mali, we tested whether patients pressure providers to prescribe unnecessary medical treatment. We varied patients’ information about a discount for antimalarial tablets and measure demand for both tablets and costlier antimalarial injections. We find evidence of patient-driven demand: informing patients about the discount, instead of letting providers decide to share this information, increased discount use by 35 percent and overall malaria treatment by 10 percent. These marginal patients rarely had malaria, worsening the illness-treatment match. Providers did not use the information advantage to sell injections—their use fell in both information conditions. (JEL D83, I11, I12, O15)
{"title":"Does Patient Demand Contribute to the Overuse of Prescription Drugs?","authors":"C. Lopez, A. Sautmann, Simone Schaner","doi":"10.1257/app.20190722","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20190722","url":null,"abstract":"In an experiment in Mali, we tested whether patients pressure providers to prescribe unnecessary medical treatment. We varied patients’ information about a discount for antimalarial tablets and measure demand for both tablets and costlier antimalarial injections. We find evidence of patient-driven demand: informing patients about the discount, instead of letting providers decide to share this information, increased discount use by 35 percent and overall malaria treatment by 10 percent. These marginal patients rarely had malaria, worsening the illness-treatment match. Providers did not use the information advantage to sell injections—their use fell in both information conditions. (JEL D83, I11, I12, O15)","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73564889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Using the staggered introduction of smoking bans in the German hospitality industry over 2007–2008, I find a robust 2.4 percent decline in the daily earnings of workers in bars and restaurants associated with the most comprehensive smoking ban. This effect is unlikely to be driven by a decline in hospitality revenues or hours worked but is consistent with a simple model of compensating differentials. (JEL I12, I18, J22, J31, J81, L83)
{"title":"Finally a Smoking Gun? Compensating Differentials and the Introduction of Smoking Bans","authors":"Daniel Wissmann","doi":"10.1257/app.20180077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180077","url":null,"abstract":"Using the staggered introduction of smoking bans in the German hospitality industry over 2007–2008, I find a robust 2.4 percent decline in the daily earnings of workers in bars and restaurants associated with the most comprehensive smoking ban. This effect is unlikely to be driven by a decline in hospitality revenues or hours worked but is consistent with a simple model of compensating differentials. (JEL I12, I18, J22, J31, J81, L83)","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74678001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nicolas Gendron-Carrier, Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, Stefano Polloni, Matthew A Turner
We investigate the effect of subway system openings on urban air pollution. On average, particulate concentrations are unchanged by subway openings. For cities with higher initial pollution levels, subway openings reduce particulates by 4 percent in the area surrounding a city center. The effect decays with distance to city center and persists over the longest time horizon that we can measure with our data, about four years. For highly polluted cities, we estimate that a new subway system provides an external mortality benefit of about $1 billion per year. For less polluted cities, the effect is indistinguishable from zero. Back of the envelope cost estimates suggest that reduced mortality due to lower air pollution offsets a substantial share of the construction costs of subways.
{"title":"Subways and Urban Air Pollution.","authors":"Nicolas Gendron-Carrier, Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, Stefano Polloni, Matthew A Turner","doi":"10.1257/app.20180168","DOIUrl":"10.1257/app.20180168","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We investigate the effect of subway system openings on urban air pollution. On average, particulate concentrations are unchanged by subway openings. For cities with higher initial pollution levels, subway openings reduce particulates by 4 percent in the area surrounding a city center. The effect decays with distance to city center and persists over the longest time horizon that we can measure with our data, about four years. For highly polluted cities, we estimate that a new subway system provides an external mortality benefit of about $1 billion per year. For less polluted cities, the effect is indistinguishable from zero. Back of the envelope cost estimates suggest that reduced mortality due to lower air pollution offsets a substantial share of the construction costs of subways.</p>","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"14 1","pages":"164-196"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9838121/pdf/nihms-1855686.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10541034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines the long-run effects of the 1980–1982 recession on education and income. Using confidential census data, I estimate difference-in-difference regressions that exploit variation across counties in recession severity and across cohorts in age at the time of the recession. For individuals age 0–10 in 1979, a 10 percent decrease in earnings per capita in their county of birth reduces four-year college degree attainment by 15 percent and earnings in adulthood by 5 percent. Simple calculations suggest that in aggregate, the 1980–1982 recession led to 1.3–2.8 million fewer college graduates and $66–$139 billion less earned income per year. (JEL E32, I21, I26, J24, J31)
{"title":"The Long-Run Effects of Recessions on Education and Income","authors":"Bryan A. Stuart","doi":"10.1257/app.20180055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180055","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the long-run effects of the 1980–1982 recession on education and income. Using confidential census data, I estimate difference-in-difference regressions that exploit variation across counties in recession severity and across cohorts in age at the time of the recession. For individuals age 0–10 in 1979, a 10 percent decrease in earnings per capita in their county of birth reduces four-year college degree attainment by 15 percent and earnings in adulthood by 5 percent. Simple calculations suggest that in aggregate, the 1980–1982 recession led to 1.3–2.8 million fewer college graduates and $66–$139 billion less earned income per year. (JEL E32, I21, I26, J24, J31)","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"879 30","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138506287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mariella Gonzales, Gianmarco León-Ciliotta, Luis R. Martínez
We study voters’ response to marginal changes to the fine for electoral abstention in Peru, leveraging variation from a nationwide reform. A smaller fine has a robust, negative effect on voter turnout, partly through irregular changes in voter registration. However, representation is largely unaffected, as most of the lost votes are blank or invalid. We also show that the effect of an exemption from compulsory voting is substantially larger than that of a full fine reduction, suggesting that nonmonetary incentives are the main drivers behind the effectiveness of compulsory voting. (JEL D72, K16, O17)
{"title":"How Effective Are Monetary Incentives to Vote? Evidence from a Nationwide Policy","authors":"Mariella Gonzales, Gianmarco León-Ciliotta, Luis R. Martínez","doi":"10.1257/app.20200482","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20200482","url":null,"abstract":"We study voters’ response to marginal changes to the fine for electoral abstention in Peru, leveraging variation from a nationwide reform. A smaller fine has a robust, negative effect on voter turnout, partly through irregular changes in voter registration. However, representation is largely unaffected, as most of the lost votes are blank or invalid. We also show that the effect of an exemption from compulsory voting is substantially larger than that of a full fine reduction, suggesting that nonmonetary incentives are the main drivers behind the effectiveness of compulsory voting. (JEL D72, K16, O17)","PeriodicalId":48212,"journal":{"name":"American Economic Journal-Applied Economics","volume":"879 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138506294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}