Quarterly Journal of Economics articles from May 1996

Quarterly Journal of Economics archives from May 1996

An analysis of out-of-wedlock childbearing in the United States.
May 1, 1996... I. INTRODUCTION When Daniel Moynihan wrote his famous report, The Negro Family [U. S. Department of Labor 1965] the black out-of-wedlock birth rate was 24 percent. Twenty-five years later this rate, defined as the percentage of births...

The effect of prison population size on crime rates: evidence from prison overcrowding litigation.
May 1, 1996... The incarceration rate in the United States has more than tripled in the last two decades. At year-end 1994 the United States prison population exceeded one million. Annual government outlays on prisons are roughly $40 billion per year. The...

Do doctors practice defensive medicine?
May 1, 1996... INTRODUCTION The medical malpractice liability system has two principal roles: providing redress to individuals who suffer negligent injuries, and creating incentives for doctors to provide appropriately careful treatment to their...

Does public insurance crowd out private insurance?
May 1, 1996... The recent debate over health care reform in the United States effectively ended public discussion of universal health insurance coverage. As a result, much attention is likely to be paid to partial alternatives, which offer free or subsidized...

Health insurance eligibility, utilization of medical care, and child health.
May 1, 1996... Public concern about the health of children is one of the driving forces behind efforts to reduce the rate of uninsurance in the United States. High rates of child mortality and morbidity suggest that American children do not receive the same...

Teen motherhood and abortion access.
May 1, 1996... I. INTRODUCTION Over the last decade women in the United States have seen an increasing number of restrictions placed on their access to abortion services, ranging from limitations on state and federal funding of abortion to an increase...

Crime and social interactions.
May 1, 1996... Quelquefois aussi le crime prend sa source dans l'esprit d'imitation, que l'homme possede a un haut degre et qu'il manifeste en toutes choses [A. Quetelet 1835]. I. INTRODUCTION The most puzzling aspect of crime is not its overall...

Integrating behavioral choice into epidemiological models of AIDS.
May 1, 1996... Nearly 18 million people have been infected by HIV [WHO 1995], the majority through heterosexual transmission in developing countries. Prevalence among 30- to 40-year-olds in some districts of Uganda is 40 percent [Barrett and Blaikie 1992],...

Immigration and the welfare state: immigrant participation in means-tested entitlement programs.
May 1, 1996... I. INTRODUCTION The historical debate over immigration policy in the United States has focused primarily on two questions. How well do immigrants adjust to their new surroundings? And do immigrants "take jobs away" from native workers?...

Labor supply response to the earned income tax credit.
May 1, 1996... Historically, the United States has chosen to provide a safety net for families with children. Since 1935, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) has supplied cash welfare payments to needy single-parent families. Families on AFDC may...