This paper uses data from the Current Population Survey to analyze determinants of cigarette demand. Price elasticities for smoking participation and quantity of cigarettes smoked are between y0.4 and y0.6 for both men and women. These effects diminish for high-income individuals. The family earnings elasticity of demand is weak, but education has strong negative effects on smoking, especially ...

Danish unemployment assistance increases by 70% when individual becomes 25 years old. This feature is used to identify the effect of income on the receipients of unemployment assistance. Competing-risks duration models are used. The semiparametric estimates cease to find any effect on the hazard rate around age 25. The parametric differences-in-differences estimate suggests the presence of a si...

Econophysics is the transfer of methods from natural to socio-economic sciences. This concept has first been applied to finance, but it is now also used in various applications of economics and social sciences [2,3]. The present paper focuses on problems in macro economics and growth. 1. Neoclassical theory [4, 5] neglects the “ex post” property of income and growth. Income Y(K, L) is assumed t...

This paper derives optimal income tax formulas using compensated and uncompensated elasticities of earnings with respect to tax rates. A simple formula for the high income optimal tax rate is obtained as a function of these elasticities and the thickness of the top tail of the income distribution. In the general non-linear income tax problem, this method using elasticities shows precisely how t...

There has been considerable controversy about the most appropriate means of delivering insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to prevent malaria. Household demand for ITNs is a key factor influencing the choice of delivery strategy, but evidence to date about price and income elasticities comes either from studies of hypothetical willingness to pay or small-scale policy experiments. This study estimat...