Economics - Research Publications

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Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND HEALTH STRONGER FOR OLDER CHILDREN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?
    Cameron, L ; Williams, J (SPRINGER, 2009-05)
    Recent research on the relationship between child health and income in developed countries reveals a positive gradient that is more pronounced for older children, suggesting that the impact of income upon health accumulates. This article examines whether the same is true in a developing country. Using data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey on children aged 0 to 14 years, we find that although low income adversely affects health, its impact does not differ by age. This finding is robust to the use of both subjective and objective health measures, controlling for selective mortality, the use of alternative measures of households' resources, and the inclusion of indicators of health at birth and parental health. One explanation for the constancy of the health-income relationship that we explore is the dominant role played by acute illness in determining the general health status of children in a developing-country context compared with the more central role played by chronic conditions in developed countries.
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    Turning from crime: A dynamic perspective
    Sickles, RC ; Williams, J (Elsevier, 2008-07)
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    Cannabis prices and dynamics of cannabis use
    van Ours, JC ; Williams, J (ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, 2007-05-01)
    This paper uses duration models and self-reported cannabis histories from young Australians to study the dynamics of cannabis use. We find that low cannabis prices are associated with early initiation into cannabis use. While the decision to quit does not appear to be directly influenced by price, we find that the younger an individual is when they start using cannabis the less likely they are to quit. Therefore, low cannabis prices lead to early use and because of that they lead to a low quit rate and hence a longer duration of use.
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    The effects of price and policy on marijuana use: what can be learned from the Australian experience?
    Williams, J (JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD, 2004-02)
    This research examines the responsiveness of the demand for marijuana to changes in its money price and criminal status using data on individuals from the Australian National Drug Strategy's Household Surveys (NDSHS). The results suggest that both the prevalence of marijuana use and the conditional demand for marijuana in the general population are responsive to changes in its money price. Significant differences are found in the effect of price on participation in marijuana use across age-groups, with participation by youth more price sensitive than participation by older age-groups. Similarly, the effect of the legal status of marijuana use on the participation decision is found to differ across age-groups and gender. Specifically, decriminalisation is associated with an increases in the prevalence of use by males over the age of 25. There is no evidence that decriminalisation significantly increases participation in marijuana use by either young males or females, or that decriminalisation increases the frequency of use among marijuana users.
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    Economic relationship between alcohol and cannabis revisited
    Williams, J ; Mahmoudi, P (WILEY, 2004-03)
    Consuming cannabis in combination with alcohol is common among Australian cannabis users. This paper investigates whether the economic relationship between cannabis and alcohol is affected by the manner in which these two substances are used. Our results indicate that cannabis and alcohol are economic complements for all cannabis users, but this relationship is stronger for cannabis users who tend to use alcohol and cannabis together, whom we refer to as polysubstance users. Separate analysis by gender suggests that cannabis consumption by polysubstance and non‐polysubstance using males is more responsive to changes in the full price of alcohol than their female counterparts.
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    Alcohol and marijuana use among college students: economic complements or substitutes?
    Williams, J ; Pacula, RL ; Chaloupka, FJ ; Wechsler, H (JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD, 2004-09)
    Previous research has shown that the recent tightening of college alcohol policies has been effective at reducing college students' drinking. Over the period in which these stricter alcohol policies have been put in place, marijuana use among college students has increased. This raises the question of whether current policies aimed at reducing alcohol consumption are inadvertently encouraging marijuana use. This paper begins to address this question by investigating the relationship between the demands for alcohol and marijuana for college students using data from the 1993, 1997 and 1999 waves of the Harvard School of Public Health's College Alcohol Study (CAS). We find that alcohol and marijuana are economic complements and that policies that increase the full price of alcohol decrease participation in marijuana use.
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    Does alcohol consumption reduce human capital accumulation? Evidence from the College Alcohol Study
    Williams, J ; Powell, LM ; Wechsler, H (ROUTLEDGE TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2003-07-10)