We use the first three waves of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to examine the retirement plans of middle-aged workers (aged 45-55). Our results indicate that approximately two-thirds of men and more then half of women appear to be making standard retirement plans. At the same time, more than one...

The 'new discrimination' refers to the use of government policy to increase the effective gender wage gap, measured in terms of the second earner’s net of tax income gain from working in the market place rather than at home. This paper presents an analysis of the tax treatment of family members and shows how the...

The evidence for Britain shows that minimum wages are associated with a small increase in work-related training for the low paid and have not adversely affected the employment of British workers. The authors therefore suggest that the minimum wage has the potential to reduce wages inequality in the longer-term provided that it continues to be...

There is a commonplace notion that full moons affect natality and mortality. To test this theory, Joshua S. Gans and Andrew Leigh obtain daily births and deaths data from Australia, covering all 10,592 days from 1 January 1975 to 31 December 2003. They find that full moons are not associated with any significant change in...

How much do non-medical factors affect the timing of conceptions, births and deaths? To test this, Joshua S. Gans and Andrew Leigh estimate the effect of the millennium on conceptions, births and deaths. With a highly flexible empirical specification, they find large and significant increases in conceptions and births, and suggestive evidence of an effect...