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on Neuroeconomics |
| By: | Barry Chiswick; Hope Corman; Dhaval Dave; Nancy E. Reichman |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes, for the first time, the effect of increases in the minimum wage on the labor market outcomes of working age adults with cognitive disabilities, a vulnerable and low-skilled sector of the actual and potential labor pool. Using data from the American Community Survey (2008-2023), we estimated effects of the minimum wage on employment, labor force participation, weeks worked, and hours worked among working age individuals with cognitive disabilities using a generalized difference-in-differences research design. We found that a higher effective minimum wage leads to reduced employment and labor force participation among individuals with cognitive disabilities but has no significant effect on labor supply at the intensive margin for this group. Adverse impacts were particularly pronounced for those with lower educational attainment. In contrast, we found no significant labor market effects of an increase in the minimum wage for individuals with physical disabilities or in the non-disabled population. |
| Keywords: | Minimum Wage, Cognitive Disability, Employment, Labor Market Outcomes, American Community Survey |
| JEL: | J14 J2 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2540 |
| By: | Sarah Cattan (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Gabriella Conti (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Christine Farquharson (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | Early childhood programmes frequently lose effectiveness at scale, yet the role of the workforce remains poorly understood. We document substantial heterogeneity in workforce effectiveness in England’s national home-visiting programme for first-time teenage mothers, despite a highlystructured curriculum and well-qualified staff. Exploiting quasi-random assignment of mothers to family nurses, we estimate that a one standard deviation increase in workforce effectiveness raises children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development by 0.20-0.23 SD. Structural quality — observable worker characteristics — does not predict effectiveness, but process quality — how visits are delivered — does. Greater effectiveness is linked with improvements in maternal mental health and risk behaviours. |
| Date: | 2026–05–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:26/30 |
| By: | Yu, Jiao (Yale University); Wang, Yi (Yale University); Gill, Thomas (Yale University); Chen, Xi (Yale University, IZA, NBER) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of neighborhood disorder on dementia risk and identify cardiometabolic dysregulation as a mediating biological pathway. Using Health and Retirement Study (2006–2020), we show that exposure to visible neighborhood disorder is associated with higher risk of dementia (Hazard Ratio: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.08–1.74) and higher risk of cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND; HR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.22–1.85) over a 14-year follow-up. Mediation analysis reveals that a composite cardiometabolic risk score - aggregating seven biomarkers spanning inflammatory, cardiovascular, and metabolic systems - accounts for approximately 16% of the total neighborhood disorder–dementia association and 19% of the neighborhood disorder–CIND association. These findings are robust to competing-risk regression for mortality, restriction to non-movers, age-at-onset restrictions, and exclusion of pandemic-year data. The findings suggest that community interventions that simultaneously reduce visible signs of neighborhood decay and address cardiometabolic risk may yield dementia-prevention dividends beyond what individual-level clinical strategies alone can achieve. |
| Keywords: | dementia, cognitive impairment, neighborhood disorder, cardiometabolic risk, social determinants of health, mediation analysis |
| JEL: | I12 I14 J14 R23 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18581 |
| By: | Sule Alan |
| Abstract: | This chapter examines how schools cultivate socio-emotional skills that influence both individual success and broader social cohesion. Moving beyond the traditional focus on cognitive ability, I argue that education plays a crucial role in fostering traits that promote cooperation, trust, and long-term societal well-being. Drawing on insights from neuroscience, psychology, and economics, I explore how schools shape not only academic and labor market outcomes but also intergenerational beliefs, attitudes, and the formation of social capital. Using evidence from experimental studies, I highlight how school-based interventions can instill perseverance, enhance social learning, and create environments that curb anti-social tendencies, promote prosocial behavior—ultimately influencing the cultural fabric of society. This perspective reframes education as a mechanism for building more equitable and cohesive communities. |
| JEL: | D63 I25 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35161 |
| By: | Lisa Voois (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Teresa Bago d-Uva (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Owen O'Donnell (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | Misperception of long-term care (LTC) risk may distort insurance and saving decisions. Comparing older Americans’ subjective probabilities of nursing home entry with realized outcomes, we find LTC risk perceptions are inaccurate, partly due to inappropriate weighting of risk factors insurers can observe. Risk perceptions capture only 37% of the potential discriminatory power of this shared information. Private information offsets only one third of the resulting inaccuracy. LTC insurance take-up is positively associated with perceived risk even after adjusting for confounders and reverse causality. These findings are consistent with selection out of insurance partly due to underutilization of shared information. |
| Keywords: | subjective probability, information friction, mental gap, cognitive bias, behavioral insurance, long-term care insurance |
| JEL: | D82 D83 I13 |
| Date: | 2026–03–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20260013 |
| By: | Flavio Cunha; Snejana Nihtianova; Jessica Rood; Anja-Lize van der Merwe |
| Abstract: | We develop a model of parental investment in early childhood in which bandwidth-constrained parents hold distorted beliefs about the returns to responsive interaction. When capacity falls short of aspiration, motivated reasoning provides relief: the parent distorts her working belief downward, rationalizing low engagement. Distorted beliefs suppress responsive parenting, which generates no calibration evidence, which, in turn, confirms the distortion. The model identifies four channels through which interventions escape this self-sealing trap. A randomized controlled trial confirms the model's predictions on parental beliefs, measures of responsive parenting, behavioral engagement, and absence of impact on materials or placebo outcomes. |
| JEL: | C93 D83 D91 I20 J13 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35150 |