Petrol prices and obesity.

Using 13 waves of longitudinal data from Australia, we examine the relationship between petrol prices and obesity. Applying panel data models that control for individual fixed effects and the endogeneity of petrol prices, our results suggest that petrol prices have a negative effect on obesity. Specifically, our preferred instrumental variable estimates, which instrument for petrol prices using the Arca Oil Stock price and control for individual and time fixed effects, suggest that a standard deviation increase in petrol prices generates a 0.006 standard deviation decline in body mass index, while a unit increase in petrol prices results in a 2 percentage point decrease in the probability that a survey participant is obese. These results are robust to several sensitivity checks. Back of the envelope calculations suggest that our results imply that a permanent $1 per liter increase in petrol prices would reduce the number of people who were obese by 672,000 and save $1.4 billion dollars in medical expenditure related to obesity every year. We also find that frequency of participation in physical activity and expenditure on meals eaten out are channels through which petrol prices affect obesity.

Neighbourhood ethnic diversity and mental health in Australia.

We present the first study that empirically examines the effects of neighbourhood ethnic diversity on mental health. Using 16 waves of longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, we find that ethnic diversity is negatively associated with mental health. Our preferred estimates, using lagged ethnic diversity at the state level to instrument for neighbourhood ethnic diversity, suggest that a standard deviation increase in ethnic diversity is associated with a decline of 0.092-0.129 standard deviations in mental health. This result is robust to alternative estimation approaches to addressing endogeneity of ethnic diversity and alternative ways of measuring ethnic diversity and irrespective of whether mental health is measured with the Mental Health Inventory scale or the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). We further find that ethnic diversity influences mental health through the level of neighbourhood trust. Our findings point to the need to develop policies that promote social inclusion in multicultural societies and build trust between heterogeneous ethnic groups as a vehicle to improve mental health.

Do fertility control policies affect health in old age? Evidence from China's one-child experiment.

How do fertility control policies contribute to the welfare of women, and their husbands, particularly as they get older? We consider whether the reduction in fertility resulting from population control policies has had any effect on the health of elderly parents in China. In particular, we examine the influence of this fertility decline, experienced due to China's one-child policy, on several measures of the health of parents in middle and old age. Overall, our results suggest that having fewer children has a positive effect on self-reported parental health but generally no effect on other measures of health. The results also suggest that upstream financial transfers have a positive effect on several measures of parental health.

Locus of control and the mental health effects of local area crime.

RATIONALE: Exposure to local crime can constitute profound and continuing trauma with significant mental health implications. This is true for both victims and others within society who have not been directly victimised. Yet, for most policymakers, understanding what can be done to help victims to improve their level of mental wellbeing, has proved to be extremely challenging. OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to explore the role of locus of control (LoC), an important personality trait, in helping victims to develop resilience against crime. Specifically, we seek to examine the impact of local area crime rates on the mental health of residents and whether a person's LoC can help build resilience against the negative mental health effects from local area crime. METHODS: Using 19 waves of longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, covering 15,245 adults between the ages of 21 and 59 years, we employ an empirical strategy that addresses the issue of sorting and endogenous crime-related moving behaviour. RESULTS: We find that local area crime lowers mental health for residents, and that those who are more internal on LoC are more resilient to the adverse effects of local crime on mental health. Our results also show that social capital, physical activity, perceived safety and neighbourhood satisfaction are mechanisms through which LoC moderates the effect of local crime on mental health. CONCLUSION: Our findings have important implications for developing policies that seek to address the negative effects of crime. We propose policies that promote building safer communities and fostering social inclusion as ways to reduce the effect of crime on mental health.

Impact of Testing on Sexually Transmitted Infections among Female Brothel Sex Workers in Bangladesh: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Past studies that have designed interventions to reduce the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have typically provided onsite treatment to sex workers who tested positive, which were expensive and difficult to implement. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an intervention which tested for STIs and provided information on the closest treatment facility on reducing the prevalence of STIs among female brothel-based sex workers (BSWs) in Bangladesh. The study adopted a pre-post interventional design as well as a randomized controlled study design. A baseline sample and follow-up urine sample were collected to evaluate the prevalence of STIs among participants in the treatment, but not control group. A baseline survey and interviews were also conducted for both the groups. The study found a nonsignificant reduction from baseline to follow-up in STI prevalence among intervention participants (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.38, 1.45). However, the participants in the intervention group were significantly more likely to have a repeat client (aOR: 1.60; 95% CI: 1.12, 2.29) and nonsignificantly less likely to engage with a client suspected of having an STI (aOR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.39, 1.00) than participants in the control group. The intervention testing of STIs and providing information to the positive cases about nearest treatment facilities were not effective in reducing the prevalence of STIs among BSWs. Further study of the clinical and behavioral impacts of such efforts to reduce STIs among BSWs is warranted.

Cointegration between oil spot and future prices of the same and different grades in the presence of structural change.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether crude oil spot and futures prices of the same and different grades are cointegrated using a residual-based cointegration test that allows for one structural break in the cointegrating vector and high-frequency data. We choose the US WTI and the UK Brent as the representative crudes for this analysis since these two crudes have well-established spot and futures markets. We find that spot and future prices of the same grade as well as spot and futures prices of different grades are cointegrated. We examine potential causes of structural change as revealed by the cointegration test in terms of events that have impacted on world oil markets as well as discuss the implications of the results for hedge managers, investors and regulators.

Survey measures versus incentivized measures of risk preferences: Evidence from sex workers' risky sexual transactions.

Survey measures of risk attitudes are primarily used in the health literature, although incentivized measures of risk preferences are being increasingly used in other fields. We exploit the unique setting of commercial female sex workers in Bangladesh to investigate whether incentivized measures of risk preferences, or non-incentivized survey measures of risk preferences, best identify the risky commercial sex decisions that they make. The study uses survey data collected during February-April 2016, and October-November 2016 from eight brothels in Bangladesh. Wave 1 includes 1,332 female sex workers, Wave 2 includes 1,185 female sex workers. Our findings suggest that researchers can reliably use survey measures to elicit risk preferences on health.

The Environment and Well-Being in Urban China.

We examine the relationship between atmospheric pollution, measured as sulphur dioxide emissions, environmental disasters, traffic congestion, access to parkland and well-being in urban China, using a large survey administered across 30 cities in 2003. We find that in cities with high levels of atmospheric pollution, environmental disasters and traffic congestion Chinese citizens report significantly lower levels of well-being ceteris paribus while in cities with greater access to parkland Chinese citizens report significantly higher levels of well-being ceteris paribus.

Unit root properties of crude oil spot and futures prices.

In this article, we examine whether WTI and Brent crude oil spot and futures prices (at 1, 3 and 6 months to maturity) contain a unit root with one and two structural breaks, employing weekly data over the period 1991-2004. To realise this objective we employ Lagrange multiplier (LM) unit root tests with one and two endogenous structural breaks proposed by Lee and Strazicich [2003. Minimum Lagrange multiplier unit root test with two structural breaks. Review of Economics and Statistics, 85, 1082-1089; 2004. Minimum LM unit root test with one structural break. Working Paper no. 04-17, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University]. We find that each of the oil price series can be characterised as a random walk process and that the endogenous structural breaks are significant and meaningful in terms of events that have impacted on world oil markets.

Decomposing the effect of height on income in China: The role of market and political channels.

It is well known that height is positively associated with earnings. Based on individual level data, this paper investigates the channels through which height influences income in China. Our first key finding is that for males (females) a 1 centimeter (cm) increase in height leads to a 0.5% (0.02%) increase in the probability that he (she) becomes a Communist Party member. Further, the hourly wage of Communist Party members is approximately 11% higher than non-members for males, while no difference in the hourly wage between Party members and non-members is observed for females. Therefore, a 1cm increase in height leads to approximately a 0.06% increase in the hourly wage, which is observed only for males. We label this the height premium in earnings through the political channel. Second, controlling for the political channel of the height premium, a 1cm increase in height leads to a 1.18% (1.04%) increase in the hourly wage for males (females). We label this the height premium through the market channel. Together, these results suggest that the height premium in earnings through the market channel is much larger than that through the political channel.