Adult obesity is a growing problem. From 1962 to 2006, obesity prevalence nearly tripled to
35.1 percent of adults. The rising prevalence of obesity is not limited to a particular …

This paper reviews the evidence on external costs of risky behaviors in the US and provides
a framework for estimating them. External costs arise when a person does not bear all the …

Media industries typically exhibit two fundamental features, high fixed costs and
heterogeneity of consumer preferences. Daily newspaper markets, for example, tend to …

It is well-known that pooled insurance coverage can induce people to make inefficiently low
investments in self-protective activities. We identify another ex ante moral hazard that runs in …

Scientific research and private-sector technological innovation differ in objectives,
constraints, and organizational forms. Scientific research may thus not be driven by the …

We develop a model of induced innovation that applies to medical research. Our model
yields three empirical predictions. First, initial death rates and subsequent research effort …

In recent years, nonprofit firms focused on specific diseases have increased their
grantmaking efforts in the search of a cure. They have become more aggressive in directly …

This paper studies the impact of mortality in the districts/states represented in key
congressional groups (ie committees, subcommittees, and parties) on the National Institutes …

We test Hicks' induced innovation hypothesis (IIH) in US agriculture using a state-level panel
dataset of input prices and quantities for the period 1960-2004. A two-stage cost …

This dissertation contributes to the literature on the private provision of public goods through
three papers. The first paper is focused on the organizational level of providing public …