"Is the minimum wage good for the unemployed? An answer from individual panel data"

Summary

The evidence says the minimum wage will hit the unemployed particularly hard, yet economists have ignored them almost completely. In this paper I show how wrong this trend is. The unemployed may suffer for a long time because of higher minimum wages.

"What caused black men to leave the labor force? Preliminary findings"

Summary

After 1930, there is a labor supply racial divergence that has not been properly explained, because of data constraints. I show that gaps in labor force participation can be used to proxy for gaps in unemployment for men between 25-54 years old. Using US Census for all the 20th century I show that common explanations like the Great Migration and the Great Depression are unlikely to have produced this labor supply divergence. However, the New Deal could be a far better explanation. By creating welfare migration, this program turned a temporary gap into a long-term divergence.

"Mothers' Labor Supply and Conditional Cash Transfers: Evidence from Chile" (Estudios de Economia, 50)

Summary

I study the impact of an early CCT on women's labor supply. I find that the effects on young mothers are particularly worrisome. However, it would be easy to redesign the program to avoid them.

"Effect of universal child care for 1-2 year old on their physical and mental health"

Summary

Between 2004-2008 Norway doubled child care enrollment rates for one and two year old children. We evaluate whether child care improves or undermine their health in the future. Early child care can mean early exposition to dangerous pathogens, which could make children stronger or weaker to future health challenges. Furthermore, the attachment theory in psychology suggests this process to be important and salient at least until age three. In this paper we look at health during adolescence following the reform, as suboptimal attachment is associated to several negative mental health outcomes.

"Effect of Hospital complexity and distance on maternal outcomes: Evidence from Norway"

Summary

Using summer closures of maternities in rural Norway, we are able to determine maternal outcomes would not be significantly affected by hospitals being farther or more complex. These results suggest centralizing the system would not significantly affect maternal outcomes.

"Why nations succeed: Evidence on the importance of Christian Principles"

Summary

Institutions lack agency, they are inert, cold and dead. To explain the success of the Western World we need to understand what motivates this peoples. I show that Christian principles are this engine. Using data borrowed from Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robertsons (2001), updated with a few more variables I use the European expansion as a natural experiment. I show that receiving Christian principles explains a per capita GDP by PPP by 1950 higher by one standard deviation, and being initially cohesive explains a similar increase for former European colonies.