American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 47 1 March 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=47&issue=1 Journal Article Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation Guido W.ImbensHarvard U Jeffrey M.WooldridgeMI State U 5 86 Many empirical questions in economics and other social sciences depend on causal effects of programs or policies. In the last two decades, much research has been done on the econometric and statistical analysis of such causal effects. This recent theoretical literature has built on, and combined features of, earlier work in both the statistics and econometrics literatures. It has by now reached a level of maturity that makes it an important tool in many areas of empirical research in economics, including labor economics, public finance, development economics, industrial organization, and other areas of empirical microeconomics. In this review, we discuss some of the recent developments. We focus primarily on practical issues for empirical researchers, as well as provide a historical overview of the area and give references to more technical research. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.47.1.5 10.1257/jel.47.1.5 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 47 1 March 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=47&issue=1 Journal Article Front Matter 1 4 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.47.1.1 10.1257/jel.47.1.1 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 47 1 March 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=47&issue=1 Journal Article Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development JanetCurrieColumbia U 87 122 There are many possible pathways between parental education, income, and health, and between child health and education, but only some of them have been explored in the literature. This essay focuses on links between parental socioeconomic status (as measured by education, income, occupation, or in some cases area of residence) and child health, and between child health and adult education or income. Specifically, I ask two questions: What is the evidence regarding whether parental socioeconomic status affects child health? And, what is the evidence relating child health to future educational and labor market outcomes? I show that there is now strong evidence of both links, suggesting that health could play a role in the intergenerational transmission of economic status. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.47.1.87 10.1257/jel.47.1.87 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 47 1 March 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=47&issue=1 Journal Article The Age of Milton Friedman AndreiShleiferHarvard U 123 35 Between 1980 and 2005, as the world embraced free market policies, living standards rose sharply, while life expectancy, educational attainment, and democracy improved and absolute poverty declined. Is this a coincidence? A collection of essays edited by Balcerowicz and Fischer argues that indeed reliance on free market forces is key to economic growth. A book by Stiglitz and others disagrees. I review and compare the two arguments. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.47.1.123 10.1257/jel.47.1.123 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 47 1 March 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=47&issue=1 Journal Article Globalization and the Welfare State: A Review of Hans-Werner Sinn's Can Germany Be Saved? Dennis J.SnowerKiel Institute for the World Economy and Christian-Albrechts U Alessio J. G.BrownKiel Institute for the World Economy and Christian-Albrechts U ChristianMerklKiel Institute for the World Economy and Christian-Albrechts U 136 58 What are the challenges that globalization makes on welfare states and how should welfare states respond? How should welfare states be designed to enable countries to reap the benefits of globalization? These are the main themes of Hans-Werner Sinn's book, Can Germany Be Saved? We view Germany as a case study of how a welfare state can go wrong in reacting to the pressures of globalization. We present two views of globalization -- the "specialization view" (of Sinn) and the "Great Reorganization view" (ours) -- and examine the policy implications of each for the welfare state design. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.47.1.136 10.1257/jel.47.1.136 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 47 1 March 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=47&issue=1 Journal Article What Do (and Don't) We Know about the Value Added Tax? A Review of Richard M. Bird and Pierre-Pascal Gendron's The VAT in Developing and Transitional Countries MichaelKeenIMF 159 70 The VAT has taken the tax world by storm over the last fifty years, but left little trace in the academic literature. Bird and Gendron provide an impressively informed and informative account of the VAT experience in lower income countries, largely vindicating the tax and standard advice for its design. But they rightly stress too that dominant "expert opinion" on the VAT remains troublingly uninformed by serious analysis and evidence. This article focuses on some of these gaps and recent attempts to start filling them. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.47.1.159 10.1257/jel.47.1.159 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 47 1 March 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=47&issue=1 Journal Article Book Reviews 171 218 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.47.1.171 10.1257/jel.47.1.171 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 47 1 March 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=47&issue=1 Journal Article Annotated Listing of New Books 219 295 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.47.1.219 10.1257/jel.47.1.219 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 47 1 March 2009 http://www.aeaweb.org/issue.php?journal=JEL&volume=47&issue=1 Journal Article JEL Classification System 298 311 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.47.1.298 10.1257/jel.47.1.298