ECON 34550: Economics of the Family

Professor Kasey Buckles

Click here to go to Kasey Buckles' homepage.


Welcome to the website for Economics of the Family at the University of Notre Dame's London Global Gateway, Spring 2016.

You can find important class materials here, as well as links to useful and interesting web sites.

Syllabus

Link to Sakai for handing in assignments

Class Topics, Handouts and Slides, and Links to Papers

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Topic

Dates

Handouts and Slides

Required Readings

  Introduction

Jan. 12

Family Stats

 

  Models of Marriage

Jan. 14 & 19

.

Stevenson and Wolfers 2007

  Marriage and Divorce

Jan. 21, 26, 28

Slides for Jan. 21, Slides for Jan. 26, Slides for Jan. 28

Ribar 2004, Angrist & Pischke chapters (see syllabus).

  Marriage and Inequality

Feb. 2 & 4

Slides for Feb. 4.

Popular press articles (see email).

  Economic Models of Fertility

Feb. 9

.

.

  Empirical Studies of Fertility and Family Structure

Feb. 11, 16, 18

Kearney-Levine Slides, Albanesi & Olivetti Slides, Berman, Iannoccone, and Ragusa Slides

Kearney and Levine 2014, Albanesi and Olivetti 2009, Berman, Iannaccone, and Ragusa 2012, popular press articles (see email).

  Family Structure: Birth Order, Family Size, and Spacing

Feb. 23 & 24

Black, Devereux, and Salvanes Slides, Buckles and Munnich Slides, Price Slides

Black, Devereux, and Salvanes 2005, Buckles and Munnich 2012, Price 2008

  Nature v. Nurture

March 3

Sacerdote Slides

Sacerdote 2007, popular press articles (see email).

  Family and Women's Work

March 15, 17, 22

Goldin 2004, Slaughter 2012 (The Atlantic),

  Maternity Leave

March 24

Waldfogel 1998b Slides

Waldfogel 1998b

  Conference Preparation and Conference

March 29 & 31

Papers will be made available.

  Public Policies: Child Care, Contraception, Abortion

April 5, 7, 12, 14

Bailey/GLS Slides

Cortes and Tessada, Gelbach 2002, Bailey 2010, Gruber, Levine, and Staiger 1999, popular press (links in email).

  More Public Policy: Unintended Consequences

April 21

Readings will be assigned to groups.


Handouts & Assignments 

How to Read Empirical Research Papers - This guide should help you as you learn the skill of reading papers 

Paper 1 Assignment - Due Feb. 9 

Paper 2 Assignment - Due March 3 

Paper 3 Assignment - Due April 5 

Paper 4 Assignment - Due April 21, draft due April 19 

Presentation 1 Assignment - In class, March 24 

Practice Questions for Final  

Practice Final Solutions  


Reading List

Here is a list of books you might find interesting if you enjoy creative emipirical economics. I haven't read all of these, so I can't guarantee satisfaction. They were chosen because they tackle everyday issues from an economics, econometrics, or statistics perspective, in a beach-read kind of way. Please let me know if you have other suggestions that I can pass along to your classmates. Happy reading!

The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail--But Some Don't, by Nate Silver

Freakonomics

Superfreakonomics

Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Experience

Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life

A Random Walk Down Wall Street

Moneyball

Bringing Down The House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions