Obesity and the labor market: A fresh look at the weight penalty

This paper applies semiparametric regression models to shed light on the relation-ship between body weight and labor market outcomes in Germany. We find conclusive evidence that these relationships are poorly described by linear or quadratic OLS specifications, which have been the main approaches in previous studies. Women's wages and employment probabilities do not follow a linear relationship and are highest at a body weight far below the clinical threshold of obesity. This indicates that looks, rather than health, is the driving force behind the adverse labor market outcomes to which overweight women are subject. Further support is lent to this notion by the fact that wage penalties for overweight and obese women are only observable in white-collar occupations. On the other hand, bigger appears to be better in the case of men, for whom employment prospects increase with weight, albeit with diminishing returns. However, underweight men in blue-collar jobs earn lower wages because they lack the muscular strength required in such occupations

Obesity and the Labor Market: A Fresh Look at the Weight Penalty

This paper applies semiparametric regression models to shed light on the relationship between body weight and labor market outcomes in Germany. We find conclusive evidence that these relationships are poorly described by linear or quadratic OLS specifications, which have been the main approaches in previous studies. Women's wages and employment probabilities do not follow a linear relationship and are highest at a body weight far below the clinical threshold of obesity. This indicates that looks, rather than health, is the driving force behind the adverse labor market outcomes to which overweight women are subject. Further support is lent to this notion by the fact that wage penalties for overweight and obese women are only observable in white-collar occupations. On the other hand, bigger appears to be better in the case of men, for whom employment prospects increase with weight, albeit with diminishing returns. However, underweight men in blue-collar jobs earn lower wages because they lack the muscular strength required in such occupations

Bragg reflection waveguide as a source of wavelength-multiplexed polarization-entangled photon pairs

We put forward a new highly efficient source of paired photons entangled in polarization with an ultra-large bandwidth. The photons are generated by means of a conveniently designed spontaneous parametric down-conversion process in a semiconductor type-II Bragg reflection waveguide. The proposed scheme aims at being a key element of an integrated source of polarization-entangled photon pairs highly suitable for its use in a multi-user quantum-key-distribution system

Essays on the Economics of Health and Risky Behavior

As Forrest Gump has ever eloquently pointed out: stupid is as stupid does. It turns out that most people engage in behavior that could reasonably be considered stupid, or at least risky. People overeat, chain-smoke cigarettes, drink excessively, consume harmful drugs, and drive too fast; if worst comes to worst they do some of these things simultaneously. This work evaluates three policy measures that are designed to promote health and less risky behavior: I evaluate the effects of penalties for speeding transgressions on future driving behavior, the effects of low emission zones on infant health and air pollution, and the effects of post-and-hold laws on alcohol consumption

The Effect of Changes in Alcohol Tax Differentials on Alcohol Consumption

We show that tax-induced increases in alcohol prices can lead to substantial substitution and avoidance behavior that limits reductions in alcohol consumption. Causal estimates are derived from a natural experiment in Illinois where spirits and wine taxes were raised sharply and unexpectedly in 2009. Beer taxes were increased by only a trivial amount. We construct representative and consistent measures of alcohol prices and sales from scanner data collected for hundreds of products in several thousand stores across the US. Using several difference-in-differences models, we show that alcohol excise taxes are instantly over-shifted by a factor of up to 1.5. Consumers react by switching to less expensive products and increase purchases of low-tax alcoholic beverages, thus all but offsetting any moderate, tax-induced reductions in total ethanol consumption. Our study highlights the importance of tax-induced substitution, the implications of differential tax increases by beverage group and the impacts on public health of alternative types of tax hikes whose main aims are to increase revenue

The effect of low emission zones on air pollution and infant health

This paper investigates the effect of low emission zones on air quality and birth outcomes in Germany. The staggered introduction of the policy measure creates a credible natural experiment and a natural control group for births and air pollution measurements in cities that enact low emission zones. I show that the introduction of the most restrictive type of low emission zone decreases average levels of fine particulate matter by about 4 percent and by up to 8 percent at a city's highest-polluting monitor. Low emission zones also reduce the number of days per year on which legal pollution limits are exceeded by three. However, these reductions are too small to translate into substantial improvements in infant health. My results are not driven by changes in maternal or city specific characteristics, and are robust to variations in specification and to the choice of control group

How the UK Soft Drinks Levy reduced the population’s calorie intake

Concerns about the health burden of obesity have prompted governments across the world to introduce sugar taxes. In March 2016, the UK Government announced a national Soft Drinks Industry Levy which was enacted in April 2018. Alex Dickson, Markus Gehrsitz, and Jonathan Kemp assess the effects of the levy by analysing data on the universe of soft drink sales in UK grocery and convenience stores. They find that product reformulation was the key driver behind large levy-induced calorie reductions

Investigating the effects of class composition and class size on pupils’ attainment in Scottish primary schools

Composite classes (also known as “multi-grade classes”) combine pupils from adjacent years into a single classroom. This classroom structure is widespread yet understudied. Quirks in the Scottish institutional structure allow us to clearly identify the casual effect of composite classes on pupils’ attainment. We also study the effects of class size which is an alternative policy lever that has been shown to affect attainment

Quantum modeling of semiconductor gain materials and vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser systems

This article gives an,overview of the microscopic theory,theory used to quantitatively model a wide range of semiconductor laser gain materials. As a snapshot of the current state of research, applications to a variety of actual quantum-well systems are presented. Detailed theory experiment comparisons are shown and it is analyze how the theory can be used to extract poorly known material parameters. The intrinsic laser loss processes due to radiative and nonradiative Auger recombination are evaluated microscopically. The results are used for realistic simulations of vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser systems. To account for nonequilibrium effects, a simplified model is presented using pre-computed microscopic scattering and dephasing rates. Prominent deviations from quasi-equilibrium carrier distributions are obtained under strong in-well pumping conditions