Social attitudes (beliefs) are increasingly being recognized as factors that are important in determination of the outcomes that interests economists. In the United States as Glaeser and Ward (2006) have shown, the differences in beliefs on social issues such as acceptability of legal abortion...

This research assesses the effects of mycotoxins regulations on international trade flows. Mycotoxins regulations reflected in the mandatory maximum residue limits impose costs on the producers that could take the form of both variable and fixed costs. Little empirical research exists on the...

There is a widespread belief that exposure to television has harmful effects on children's cognitive development. While a few studies on historical data contradict this belief most research that uses recent data points to a negative correlation between hours of television viewing and cognitive...

The clich¨¦ ¡°once a homeowner, always a homeowner¡± is not true. We study the causes of terminations of spells of first-time homeownership.Using a national panel data set, we find that the likelihood of a household terminating a spell of homeownership is predictable at the time of...

The rate of transition of young adults from living with parents or renting to homeownership affects the national homeownership rate. There are substantial racial and ethnic differences in the length of time that it takes for this transition to occur, contributing to the well-known racial gaps in...

This paper studies demographic variation in social capital investment. A specific focus is the effect of income on social ca pital. Findings show that once the endogeneity of income is accounted for, it does not seem to have an independent effect on social capital investment.

The number of hours a typical child watches the television is almost double the suggested guideline by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). A very large number of studies have claimed an adverse effect of television on children and teenagers. In this paper, we use The National Longitudinal...

The recent literature on tenure choice has been focusing increasingly on the information aspects of the tenure choice dec ision. However, despite the obvious information channel between social networks and tenure choice, the relationship has drawn little attention in academic research. Since the...

The influence of social networks on housing tenure choice remains conspicuously unexplored despite the fact that soci al networks are crucial in information dissemination. Social networks can enco urage the attainment and retention of homeownership by channeling important knowledge and...

We examine whether state level Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) influence prices in the electricity market. While vital environmental goals underlie the rationale for RPS there exists a potential for negative welfare impacts through increased costs of electricity generation forcing consumers...