The Ash Twins Blog

Chen, Katuscak, and Ozdenoren have an unpublished working paper that would fit in perfectly at the Journal of Bioeconomics:

In this study, we investigate gender differences and menstrual cycle effects in first-price and second-price sealed-bid auctions with independent private values in a laboratory setting. We find that women bid significantly higher and earn significantly less than men do in the first-price auction, while we find no evidence of a gender difference in bidding in the second-price auction. At a biological level, we find a sine-like pattern of bidding in the first-price auction throughout the menstrual cycle, with higher bidding in the follicular phase and lower bidding in the luteal phase. Further analysis shows almost all of the variation is driven by contraceptive pill users.

SSRN link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=881748

Heaton, Journal of Law and Economics (2006):

Many sociological theories positing a deterrent effect of religion on crime are empirically examined using ordinary least-squares (OLS) regressions of crime measures on measures of religiosity. Most previous studies have found a negative effect of religion on crime using OLS, a result I am able to replicate using county-level data on religious membership and crime rates. If crime affects religious participation, however, OLS coefficients in this context suffer from endogeneity bias. Using historic religiosity as an instrument for current religious participation, I find a negligible effect of religion on crime and a negative effect of crime on religion. To further explore the relationship between religion and crime, I examine variation in crime incidence before and after Easter. Consistent with the IV results, I find no evidence of a decrease in crime following Easter.

Link: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/501087

From Chou et al, Journal of Law and Economics (2008):

In this paper we employ the 1979 Child-Young Adult National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to estimate the effects of television fast-food restaurant advertising on children and adolescents with respect to being overweight. A ban on these advertisements would reduce the number of overweight children ages 3-11 in a fixed population by 18 percent and would reduce the number of overweight adolescents ages 12-18 by 14 percent. The elimination of the tax deductibility of this type of advertising would produce smaller declines of between 5 and 7 percent in these outcomes but would impose lower costs on children and adults who consume fast food in moderation because positive information about restaurants that supply this type of food would not be completely banned from television.

Full text: http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/20100701hearingarticle3.pdf

From Chesson et al, Journal of Law and Economics (2000):

Reduced-form regressions of STD rates on state alcohol taxes for the years 1981–95 (with controls for state and year) indicate that a $1 increase in the per-gallon liquor tax reduces gonorrhea rates by 2.1 percent, and a beer tax increase of $.20 per six-pack reduces gonorrhea rates by 8.9 percent, with similar though more pronounced effects on syphilis rates.

Full text link: http://dinhvutrangngan.com/teaching/Social_Economics/Sexual_Behaviors/Chesson%20et%20al_2000.pdf

From Haddock and Kiesling, Journal of Legal Studies (2002):

The Black Death visited unprecedented mortality rates on Europe, realigning relative values of factors of production, and in consequence the costs and benefits of defining and enforcing property rights. . . . [T]he marginal value of labor and human capital rose, which placed insupportable stress on feudal institutions. The predictable evolution of workers’ rights to their own labor accelerated the erosion of serfdom.

Full text available here.