Course Description

 This is an upper-division elective course in economics in which we will explore a number of different topics about facets of “everyday life” from an economic perspective. The topics will be organized around aspects of life and human behavior that arise at different ages and demographic events. For example, we will study the decisions of parents to have children and to “invest” in them, the decision of adolescents to use drugs and take other risks, the decision of young adults to marry (or not marry), and issues related to investing (or not investing) in one’s health. We shall explore how economists think about, theorize and analyze these questions from an economic perspective. The goal of the course is to help students see how economics can be used to understand, frame and analyze a variety of questions, that people confront in everyday life.

Several different pedagogical methods will be used in the course. Much of the classroom time will be focused on papers and readings on specific topics. I will go over the ideas and findings in these papers, asking students questions about what they have read and how they might extend or apply these ideas and/or findings, what their implications for understanding behavior are, and what implications they might have for public policy. Students will be expected to have read the assigned papers before class and to participate in the classroom discussion of the topics under consideration.

One of the best ways of understanding new ideas or concepts at more than just a “superficial” or “mechanical” level is to try to explain them to others, especially to audiences who are not “steeped” in economic methods. To simulate this approach to learning, students will be asked to write several short news or journal articles about some more technical (academic?) economic studies of topics related to life. You will be asked to write these articles for specific “audiences.” For example, you will be asked to assume that you are writing a “column” for a newspaper (e.g., the Los Angeles Times) or a news magazine (e.g., Newsweek or Time) that has a general readership who is intellectually curious (or at least we hope they are!) but who is not presumed to know anything about cost curves or demand functions.

n another similar exercise, you will be asked to make a presentation to a targeted audience on what is known by economists on a particular topic. For example, your group might be asked to give a presentation about what is known by economists about the causes of obesity among America’s youth to a Congressional committee and/or a food processing trade association. Your role will be to provide objective information on the topic from an economics perspective and to address questions that an audience in such a setting might ask. We will do the latter exercise in groups and your presentation will be made to the other students in the course (and me!), where the latter will take on the role of your target audience. Again, the goal is for students to take ideas and findings and make them accessible and relevant for non-technical audiences.

 Prerequisites

Students should have completed EC 11 and EC 103 and preferably EC 101 before taking this course. If you have not completed these courses, please see me after the first class to discuss whether you have the requisite background for the course.

 Readings

Almost all of the readings will be available from various websites on the Internet. These include:

www.jstor.org, a website that provides articles from (mainly social science) journals on-line.

www.repec.org, the Research papers in Economics website that contains working papers written by economists on a variety of different topics.

www.nber.org, the website of the National Bureau of Economic Reearch, which is a research organization that disseminates the working papers a large number of economists from around the world.

 For readings that are more difficult to find, I will make them available on a course website, located at:

www.econ.ucla.edu/hotz/e188x

 You will also find copies of the course syllabus and outline, as well as any handouts for the course at this website.

 I suspect that you will find many of the readings challenging. You will be reading original papers, rather than textbook treatments of these topics. You will need to read them with the idea of getting the main ideas out of the papers, rather than mastering their content. I also will spend time on the content of the papers in class to help you understand their content.

 Course Papers, Group Presentations, and Course Grading

Your grade in the course will be based on two short papers, each approximately 5 typed, double-spaced pages (using a font no larger than 12 point), a group presentation and accompanying materials, and your classroom participation. As discussed above, the two papers will be news articles on economic research papers and topics, written for various audiences, all of which are presumed to not be economists or trained in economics. The group presentation will also be targeted for a non-technical audience. I will provide you descriptions of the two papers in a handout that will be distributed on Wednesday, January 14^th. A description of the group project will also be distributed during the 2^nd or 3^rd week of the course, after we have discussed it in class.

The two papers will be due on the following dates:

Paper #1 due in or before class on Wednesday, February 4^th

Paper #2 due in or before class on Monday, March 1^st

The group presentations will be presented in an evening session (approximately 3 hours in length) on Thursday, March 18^th starting at 7:00 p.m. in 9383 Bunche Hall. The materials used in your presentations must be handed in at this evening session.

There will be no final exam for the course.

The papers, presentation and classroom participation will be given the following weight in determining your final course grade:

Late papers will not be accepted and will count as zero towards your grade. Similarly, failure to participate in the group project will be counted as zero.

 Office Hours

My office is 8276 Bunche Hall and my of­fice hours will be Mondays, 2:45-3:45 p.m. and Wednesdays, 4:00-5:00 p.m. If you need to contact me or make an appointment at another time, please contact my administrative assistant, Ms. Gwen Matthews, at gknm@ucla.edu or 310-825-2464. She keeps my calendar and can schedule appointments if you absolutely cannot make my regularly scheduled office hours. 206-4898.

NOTE: There will be no class on Wednesday, January, 28, 2004.

 [C] Indicates that reading is available on EC 188X Course website

[N] Indicates that reading is available at NBER website

[J] Indicates that reading is available at JSTOR website

 * denotes required reading.

 I. The Economics of Fertility (Jan. 12, 14, 21)

 Facts and Models

*Hotz, V. J., J. Klerman, and R. Willis (1996), “The Economics of Fertility in Developed Countries: A Survey,” in M.R. Rosenzweig and O. Stark, editors, Handbook of Population and Family Economics, North Holland, 1996. [C]

Becker, G. (1960), “An Economic Analysis of Fertility,” in Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, Princeton: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1960, 209-231. [C]

Willis, R, “A New Approach to the Economic Theory of Fertility Behavior,” Journal of Political Economy, March-April 1973, S14-S64. [J]

*Becker, G. (1991), “The Demand for Children,” in A Treatise on the Family, 1991. [C]

Becker, G.S., and H. G. Lewis, (1973), “On the Interaction Between the Quantity and Quality of Children,” Journal of Political Economy, March/April 1973. [J]

Effects of “Prices” on Fertility Outcomes

*Dickert-Conlin, Stacy and Amitabh Chandra (1999), “Taxes and the Timing of Births,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 107, No. 1, 161-177. [J]

*Schultz, T.P., “Changing World Prices, Women=s Wages, and the Fertility Transition: Sweden, 1860-1910,” Journal of Political Economy, December 1985. [J]

Butz, W. and M. Ward (1979), “The Emergence of Countercyclical U.S. Fertility,” American Economic Review, June 1979, 318-28. [J]

Teenage Childbearing

*Hotz, V. J., S. McElroy and S. Sanders (1997), “The Costs and Consequences of Teenage Childbearing for the Mothers and the Govern­ment,” in Kids having Kids: The Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy, ed. by R. Maynard, Urban Institute Press, 1997, pp. 55-94. [C]

*Kane, T. and D. Staiger (1996), “Teen Motherhood and Abortion Access,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1996, 467-505. [J]

Economics of Prostitution and Commercial Sex

Edlund, L. and E. Korn (2002), “A Theory of Prostitution,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 110, No. 1, 181-214. [C]

*Rao, V., I. Gupta, M. Lokshin, and S. Jana (2001), “Sex Workers and the Cost of Safe Sex: The Compensating Differential for Condom Use in Calcutta,” World Bank, January 2001. [C]

II. Raising and Investing in Children (Jan. 26, Feb. 2, Feb. 4)

 Investing in One’s Children

*Becker, G. (1991), “Family Background and the Opportunities of Children,” in A Treatise on the Family, 1991. [C]

*Behrman, J., R. Pollak, and P. Taubman (1995), “The Wealth Model: Efficiency in Education and Distribution in the Family,” in From Parent to Child: Intrahousehold Allocations and Intergenerational Relations in the United States by J. Behrman, R. Pollak and P. Taubman, 1995. [C]

Investing in the Early Education of Children

*Currie, J. and D. Thomas. “Does Head Start Make a Difference?” American Economic Review, June 1995. [J]

Currie, J. and D. Thomas. “Does Head Start Help Hispanic Children?” Journal of Public Economics, November, 1999. [J]

*Garces, E., J. Currie and D. Thomas (2000), “The Longer Term Effects of Head Start,” NBER Working Paper 8054, December 2000. [N]

*Currie, J. (2001), “Early Childhood Education Programs,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2001, 213-238. [C]

Investing in the Health of Children

*Currie, J. (2000), “Child Health in Developed Countries,” in Handbook of Health Economics, J. Newhouse and A. Culyer (eds.), North-Holland, 1053-1084. [C]

III. Adolescents and Risk-Taking Behavior (Feb. 9, Feb. 11, Feb. 18)

Facts and Theory

*Gruber, J. (2000), “Risky Behavior among Youths: An Economic Analysis,” NBER Working Paper 7781, July 2000. [N]

*Gruber, J. and B. Köszegi (2000), “Is Addition ‘Rational’? Theory and Evidence,” NBER Working Paper 7507, January 2000. [N]

Risky Behaviors and Effects of Prices

*Becker, G., M. Grossman, and K. Murphy (1994), “An Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Addition,” American Economic Review, June 1994, 396-418. [J]

*Gruber, J. (2000), “Youth Smoking in the U.S.: Prices and Policies,” NBER Working Paper 7506, January 2000. [N]

Chaloupka, F. and K. Warner (1999), “The Economics of Smoking,” NBER Working Paper 7047, March 1999. [N]

*Williams, J., R. Pacula, F. Chaloupka, and H. Wechsler (2001), “Alcohol and Marijuana Use Among College Students: Economic Complements or Substitutes?” NBER Working Paper 8401, July 2001. [N]

Pacula, R., M. Grossman, F. Chaloupka, P. O’Malley, L. Johnston, and M. Farrelly (2001), “Marijuana and Youth,” in Risky Behavior among Youth: An Economic Perspective, J. Gruber (ed.), 2001. [C]

Cook, P. and M. Moore (2001), “Environment and Persistence in Youthful Drinking Problems,” in Risky Behavior among Youth: An Economic Perspective, J. Gruber (ed.), 2001. [C]

Parental Attempts to Regulate Risk-Taking Behavior of Adolescents

*Hao, L., V. J. Hotz, and G. Jin (2002), “Games Parents and Teens Play: Risky Behaviors, Parental Reputation, and Strategic Transfers,” Unpublished manuscript, December 2002 [C]

IV.  The Economics of Mating, Marriage and Divorce (Feb. 23, Feb., 25, Mar. 1, Mar. 3)

 Facts and Theories of Marriage

*Weiss, Y. (1997), “The formation and dissolution of families: Why marry? Who marries whom? and what happens upon divorce,” in Handbook of Population and Family Economics, M. Rosenzweig and O. Stark (eds.). [C]

*Becker, G. (1991), “Assortative Mating in Marriage Markets,” in A Treatise on the Family, 1991. [C]

Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing and the Consequences of the Pill and Abortion for Marriage

*Akerloff, G., J. Yellen, and M. Katz (1996), “An Analysis of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in the United States,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 111(2):277-317. [J]

*Willis, R. (1999), “A Theory of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 107, No. 6, Part 2, December 1999. [J]

*Goldin, C. and L. Katz (2002), “The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women’s Career and Marriage Decisions,” Journal of Political Economy, 110(4), August, 730-770. [C]

Bargaining and Intrahousehold Resource Allocations

*Lundberg, S. and R. Pollak (1996), “Bargaining and Distribution in Marriage,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Autumn 1996, 139-158. [J]

*Thomas, D. (1990), “Intra-Household Resource Allocation: An Inferential Approach,” Journal of Human Resources, Autumn 1990, 635-664. [J]

Thomas, D. (1994), “Like Father, like son; Like Mother, like daughter: Parental Resources and Child Height,” Journal of Human Resources, Autumn 1994, 950-988. [J]

The Economics of Divorce

*Whittington, L. and J. Alm (1997), “’Til Death or Taxes Do Us Part: The Effect of Income Taxation on Divorce,” Journal of Human Resources, Spring 1997, 388-412. [J]

Becker, G., E. Landes, and R. Michael (1977), “An Economic Analysis of Marital Instability,” Journal of Political Economy, December 1977, 1141-1188. [J]

*Stevenson, B. and J. Wolfers (2003), “Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law: Divorce Laws and Family Distress,” Unpublished manuscript, Harvard University, November (formerly titled: “Til Death Do Us Part: Effects of Divorce Laws on Suicide, Domestic Violence and Spousal Murder”). [C]

*Peters, E., “The Importance of Financial Considerations in Divorce Decisions,” Economic Inquiry.

V. Religion (Mar. 8, Mar. 10, Mar. 15)

 *Azzi, C. and R. Ehrenberg (1975), “Household Allocation of Time and Church Attendance,” Journal of Political Economy, February 1975, 27-56. [J]

*Tomes, N. “The Effects of Religion and Denomination on Earnings and Returns to Human Capital,” Journal of Human Resources 19 (1984): 472-488. [J]

*Iannacone, L. (1988), “A Formal Model of Church and Sect,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 94, Supplement on Organizations and Institutions, S241-268. [J]

Lehrer, E. “Religion as a Determinant of Marital Fertility,” Journal of Population Economics, 1995.

Ehrenberg, R. (1977), “Household Allocation of Time and Religiosity: Replication and Extension,” Journal of Political Economy, 85 (2 1977): 415-423. [J]

VI. Death (Mar. 17)

 Cutler, D., E. Glaeser, and K. Norberg (2000), “Explaining the Rise of Youth Suicide,” NBER Working Paper 7713, May 2000. [N]

A subset of the readings for this course are located here. The other readings are available from either JSTOR or the NBER website as noted above.

Fertility Trends Handout (in PDF format).

Static Fertility Model Notes (in PDF format).

Models of Family Interactions Notes (in PDF format).

Handout on Hotz, McElroy and Sanders on Costs and Consequences of Teenage Childbearing (in PDF Format)

Handout on Hao, Hotz and Jin, Games Parents and Adolescents Play (in PDF Format)

Handout on Trends & Statistics on Marriage, Divorce & Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing (in PDF format).

Handout on Models in Akerlof, Yellen & Katz Paper (in PDF format).

Handout on Models in Willis Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing Paper (in PDF format).