American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article The Effect of Bans and Taxes on Passive Smoking JérômeAddaU College London FrancescaCornagliaQueen Mary, U London 1 32 We evaluate the effect of smoking bans and excise taxes on the exposure to tobacco smoke of nonsmokers, and we show their unintended consequences on children. Smoking bans perversely increase nonsmokers' exposure by displacing smokers to private places where they contaminate nonsmokers. We exploit data on bio-samples of cotinine, time use, and smoking cessation, as well as state and time variation in anti-smoking policies across US states. We find that higher taxes are an efficient way to decrease exposure to tobacco smoke. (JEL D12, H25, I12, I18, J13) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.1 10.1257/app.2.1.1 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2007-0010_data.zip American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article Parental Education and Child Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Taiwan Shin-YiChouLehigh U Jin-TanLiuNational Taiwan U MichaelGrossmanGraduate Center, CUNY TedJoyceBaruch College, CUNY 33 61 In 1968, the Taiwanese government extended compulsory education from 6 to 9 years and opened over 150 new junior high schools at a differential rate among regions. Within each region, we exploit variations across cohorts in new junior high school openings to construct an instrument for schooling, and employ it to estimate the causal effects of mother's or father's schooling on infant birth outcomes in the years 1978-1999. Parents' schooling does cause favorable infant health outcomes. The increase in schooling associated with the reform saved almost 1 infant life in 1,000 live births. (JEL I12, I21, J12, J13, R23) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.33 10.1257/app.2.1.33 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0139_data.zip American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article Intergenerational Networks, Unemployment, and Persistent Inequality in South Africa Jeremy R.MagruderU CA, Berkeley 62 85 This paper examines the importance of network-based intergenerational correlations in South Africa. I use longitudinal data on young South Africans to examine the covariance of children's employment with the usefulness of parents in their job search. I find that fathers serve as useful network connections to their sons (not daughters), and that mothers do not seem to be useful network connections. The father-son effect is robust to alternate explanations of specific human capital and correlated networks. The size of this effect is large. Present fathers' utility as network connections may be responsible for a one-third increase in their sons' employment rates. (JEL D31, J12, J13, J24, J62, O15, Z13) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.62 10.1257/app.2.1.62 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2009-0119_data.zip American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article Parents' Incomes and Children's Outcomes: A Quasi-experiment Using Transfer Payments from Casino Profits Randall K. Q.AkeeTufts U and IZA William E.CopelandDuke U GordonKeelerDuke U AdrianAngoldDuke U E. JaneCostelloDuke U 86 115 We examine the role an exogenous increase in household income, due to a government transfer unrelated to household characteristics, plays in children's long-run outcomes. Children in affected households have higher levels of education in their young adulthood and a lower incidence of criminality for minor offenses. Effects differ by initial household poverty status. An additional $4,000 per year for the poorest households increases educational attainment by one year at age 21, and reduces the chances of committing a minor crime by 22 percent for 16 and 17 year olds. Our evidence suggests improved parental quality is a likely mechanism for the change. (JEL D14, H23, I32, I38, J13) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.86 10.1257/app.2.1.86 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0180_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2008-0180_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article The Changing Consequences of Attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities Roland G.FryerHarvard U MichaelGreenstoneMIT 116 48 Using nationally representative data files from 1970s and 1990s college attendees, we find that in the 1970s matriculation at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) was associated with higher wages and an increased probability of graduation, relative to attending a traditionally white institution. By the 1990s, there is a wage penalty resulting in a 20 percent decline in the relative wages of HBCU graduates between the two decades. There is modest support for the possibility that the relative decline in wages associated with HBCU matriculation is partially due to improvements in TWIs' effectiveness at educating blacks. (JEL I23, J15, J24, J31) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.116 10.1257/app.2.1.116 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2007-0085_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2007-0085_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article Prize Structure and Information in Tournaments: Experimental Evidence Richard B.FreemanNBER Alexander M.GelberNBER 149 64 This paper examines behavior in a tournament in which we vary the tournament prize structure and the available information about participants' skill at the task of solving mazes. The number of solved mazes is lowest when payments are independent of performance; higher when a single, large prize is given; and highest when multiple, differentiated prizes are given. This result is strongest when we inform participants about the number of mazes they and others solved in a pre-tournament round. Some participants reported that they solved more mazes than they actually solved, and this misreporting also peaked with multiple differentiated prizes. (JEL D82) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.149 10.1257/app.2.1.149 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2009-0060_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2009-0060_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article Age at Arrival, English Proficiency, and Social Assimilation among US Immigrants HoytBleakleyU Chicago AimeeChinU Houston 165 92 Are the English proficiency and social outcomes of US immigrants the result of their cultural preferences or of more fundamental constraints? Using 2000 census microdata, we relate the English proficiency, marriage, fertility, and residential location variables of immigrants to their age at the time of arrival in the United States, and, in particular, whether that age fell within the "critical period" of language acquisition. We interpret the differences between younger and older arrivers as effects of English language skills and construct an instrumental variable for English language skills. Two-stage-least-squares estimates suggest English proficiency increases the likelihood of divorce and intermarriage. It decreases fertility and, for some, ethnic enclave residence. (JEL J11, J13, J61, R23, Z13) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.165 10.1257/app.2.1.165 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2008-0151_data.zip American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article Present-Biased Preferences and Credit Card Borrowing StephanMeierColumbia U CharlesSprengerU CA, San Diego 193 210 Some individuals borrow extensively on their credit cards. This paper tests whether present-biased time preferences correlate with credit card borrowing. In a field study, we elicit individual time preferences with incentivized choice experiments, and match resulting time preference measures to individual credit reports and annual tax returns. The results indicate that present-biased individuals are more likely to have credit card debt, and to have significantly higher amounts of credit card debt, controlling for disposable income, other socio-demographics, and credit constraints. (JEL D12, D14, D91) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.193 10.1257/app.2.1.193 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2009-0079_data.zip http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2009-0079_app.pdf American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article Externalities in the Classroom: How Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Affect Everyone's Kids Scott E.CarrellU CA, Davis Mark L.HoekstraU Pittsburgh 211 28 There is a widespread perception that externalities from troubled children are significant, though measuring them is difficult due to data and methodological limitations. We estimate the negative spillovers caused by children from troubled families by exploiting a unique dataset in which children's school records are matched to domestic violence cases. We find that children from troubled families significantly decrease the reading and math test scores of their peers and increase misbehavior in the classroom. The achievement spillovers are robust to within-family differences and when controlling for school-by-year effects, providing strong evidence that neither selection nor common shocks are driving the results. (JEL D62, I21, J12, J13, K42) http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.211 10.1257/app.2.1.211 http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2009-0014_data.zip American Economic Association Nashville, TN 1945-7782 1945-7790 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics http://www.aeaweb.org/aej-applied/ 2 1 January 2010 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=APP&volume=2&issue=1 Journal Article Front Matter i iv http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.1.i 10.1257/app.2.1.i