The NBER Reporter 2010 Number 3: Books

The following three volumes may be ordered directly from the University of Chicago Press Distribution Center, at

The University of Chicago Press
Chicago Distribution Center
11030 South Langley Avenue
Chicago, IL 60628
U.S.A.

Customer Service and Order Fullfillment
Telephone:(U.S. & Canada)1-800-621-2736
(Rest of world) 773-702-7000
Fax:(U.S. & Canada)1-800-621-8476
(Rest of world) 773-702-7212
E-mail: custserv@press.uchicago.edu

For more information on ordering and electronic distribution, see
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/infopage.html

The Economics of Crime: Lessons For and From Latin America

The Economics of Crime: Lessons for and from Latin America, edited by Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Edwards, and Ernesto Schargrodsky, is available from the University of Chicago Press for $110.00.

Crime rates in Latin America are among the highest in the world, and in several countries they have steadily risen over the past two decades. Despite this situation, there has been little systematic study of crime in the region or of the effectiveness of policies designed to tackle it. The Economics of Crime addresses a variety of topics, including the impact of mandatory arrest laws, education in prisons, and the relationship between poverty and crime. It also presents research from outside Latin America, illustrating the broad range of approaches that have been fruitful in studying crime in developed nations. The Economics of Crime should interest researchers, policymakers, and students of both crime and Latin American economic policy.

Di Tella is a Research Associate in the NBER’s Program on Political Economy, and the Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Edwards is a Research Associate in the NBER's Program on International Trade and Investment and the Henry Ford II Professor of International Economics at the Anderson Graduate School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles. Schargrodsky is a professor and dean of the business school at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.

Targeting Investments in Children: Fighting Poverty When Resources Are Limited

Targeting Investments in Children: Fighting Poverty When Resources Are Limited, edited by Phillip B. Levine and David J. Zimmerman, is available from the University of Chicago Press for $99.00.

About 17 percent of American children under the age of eighteen live at a level that meets the government’s definition of poverty, and the proportion is even greater within minority groups. Childhood poverty can have lifelong effects, resulting in poor educational, labor market, and physical and mental health outcomes for adults. Numerous programs are designed to alleviate or even eliminate poverty; as they compete for scarce resources, it is important to analyze their impact. The papers in this NBER Conference Report evaluate these programs using a common metric: their impact on earnings in adulthood. The volume’s contributors explore a variety of issues, such as the effect of interventions targeted at children of different ages, and they study a range of programs, including child care, after-school care, and drug prevention.

Levine is an NBER Research Associate in the Programs on Labor Studies and Children and the Class of 1919 Professor of Economics at Wellesley College. Zimmerman is a Research Associate in the NBER's Program on Education and a Professor of Economics at Williams College.

The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia

The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia, Volume 19 in the NBER's series on the East Asia Seminar on Economics, is available from the University of Chicago Press for $105.00. The volume's editors, who also co-chaired the conference, are NBER Research Associates Takatoshi Ito, University of Tokyo, and Andrew K. Rose, University of California, Berkeley.

Almost all industrialized countries have experienced dramatic decreases in fertility and mortality rates in recent years, leading to aging societies and economies that suffer from a declining working population along with fiscal deficits linked to increased government spending. East Asia exemplifies these trends, and this volume offers an in-depth look at how long-term demographic transitions have taken shape there and how they have affected the economy in the region.

This seminar assembled a group of experts to explore such topics as comparative demographic change, population aging, the rising cost of healthcare, and specific policy concerns in individual countries. The volume provides an overview of economic growth in East Asia as well as more specific studies on Japan, Korea, China, and Hong Kong. Offering important insights into the causes and consequences of this transition, the book will benefit students, researchers, and policymakers focused on East Asia, as well as anyone concerned with similar trends elsewhere in the world.

[back to top]

The following volume may be ordered directly from the University of Chicago Press Journals Division.

To order by telephone, call Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm Central Time, (773) 753-3347; or toll free in the U.S. and Canada, (877)705-1878. To order by mail, the address is: University of Chicago Distribution Center, 11030 South Langley Avenue, Chicago, IL 60628, (773)702-7000

Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 24

Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 24, edited by Jeffrey R. Brown, is now available from the University of Chicago Press Journals Division for $60.00 (clothbound) or $20.00 in paperback. This annual series of volumes presents current academic research findings on taxation and government spending.

Volume 24 includes studies of the relative efficacy of tax cuts versus spending increases as a form of economic stimulus; a targeted analysis of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit; two papers that examine different aspects of policies designed to provide fiscal stimulus; and an examination of the effects of recent reforms in the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Brown is a Research Associate in the NBER’s Programs on Public Economics and Aging and a Professor in the Finance Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

[back to top]