This paper investigates whether studying abroad increases the propensity to live abroad later on. We use an instrumental variable approach based on cut-offs in the ranking of Dutch higher education graduates who applied for a scholarship programme for outstanding students. Applicants ranked above the cut-off received a scholarship to study abroad. Applicants ranked below the cut-off were denied a scholarship. Assignment of a scholarship increases the probability to study abroad and the number of months spent studying abroad. Studying abroad and the number of months spent studying abroad increase the probability of currently living abroad.

Source: "Does Studying Abroad Induce a Brain Drain?" from Economica

If you're looking to refresh your brain I highly recommend: An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't.

Related posts:

Outside of increasing earning power, does schooling really have much of an impact on our lives?

Are people with less education more susceptible to the flu?

What gets you better grades in high school: being good looking, well-groomed, or a nice personality?

Did all that drinking you did in college really hurt your grades?

Does how popular you were in high school affect how much money you make later in life?

Do teachers grade more harshly when they use red pens?

Should you get wasted the night before a big exam?

Does being smart in high school = less sex?

Does being tall mean you're more likely to go to college?

Does obvious grade inflation hurt students?

Does education reduce the risk of high blood pressure?

What percentage of college graduates get a job that has anything to do with their major?

Using a representative sample of children all born to unwed parents drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and a potential outcome approach to account for self-selection into marriage, we investigate whether marriage after childbearing has a causal effect on early child development. Comparing children with similar background characteristics and parental mate-selection patterns who differ only in terms of whether their parents marry after childbirth, we find that marriage after childbirth significantly increases a child's early cognitive performance but there is no evidence that it affects child asthma risk or behavioral outcomes. (JEL J12, J13, C3)

Source: "SHOULD WE GET MARRIED? THE EFFECT OF PARENTS' MARRIAGE ON OUT-OF-WEDLOCK CHILDREN" from Economic Inquiry

To learn the science of raising kids (very much in line with what I do on this blog) check out NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children.

Related posts:

Does having children make you more like your parents?

Who gets treated better - genetic children or adopted children?:

Do children stereotype males more than females?

How To Praise Your Child

Does being poor change how much of a child's IQ is inherited?

Razor blades in kids' halloween candy!!!!!!!!! ...uh, no, that's a hoax

How to make your kid smarter

Can having unhappy kids be a good thing?

This paper experimentally investigates the role of gender-based stereotypes in the forecasting of risk attitudes. Subjects predict the gamble choice of target subjects in one of three treatments: (1) Visual—the predictor can only observe the target; (2) Information—the predictor has individuating information about the targets' response to two statements from a risk-preference survey; and (3) Combined—the predictor both observes the targets and has the targets' two responses to the risk-preference survey. Our results suggest that stereotypes play a considerable role in forming predictions about others' risk attitudes and that these stereotypes persist even when individuating information is available. (JEL C91, D8, J16)

Source: "AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF THE PERSISTENCE OF GENDER-BASED STEREOTYPES" from Economic Inquiry

When it comes to discrimination and stereotypes, you should read this.

Does gender discrimination work both ways?

Does punching things make men feel better?

Are women held to higher standards than men at work?

The increase in income per capita is accompanied, in virtually all countries, by two changes in economic structure: the increase in the share of government spending in gross domestic product (GDP), and the increase in female labor force participation. We argue that these two changes are causally related. We develop a growth model based on Galor and Weil (1996) where female participation in market activities, fertility, and government size, in addition to consumption and saving, is endogenously determined. Rising incomes lead to a rise in female labor force participation as the opportunity cost of staying at home and caring for the children increases. In our model, higher government spending decreases the cost of performing household chores, including, but not limited to, child rearing and child care, as in Rosen (1996). We also use a wide cross-section of data for developed and developing countries and show that higher market participation by women is positively and robustly associated with government size. We then investigate the causal link between participation and government size using a novel unique data set that allows the use of the relative price of productive home appliances as an instrumental variable. We find strong evidence of a causal link between female market participation and government size. This effect is robust to the country sample, time period, and a set of controls in the spirit of Rodrik (1998). (JEL O4, E62, H11)

Source: "WOMEN PREFER LARGER GOVERNMENTS: GROWTH, STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION, AND GOVERNMENT SIZE" from Economic Inquiry

Good political documentaries are here, here, and here.

The most entertaining political book I've ever read is this one. If you want to learn more about the state of politics today, I recommend checking out this book. For a humorous look at countries around the world I recommend this book. A great satire about politics in the modern age is here.

Not that your vote matters.

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Are the stereotypes about liberals and conservatives true?

How can you easily get more people to vote?

Among politicians, are Republicans or Democrats more likely to adopt Twitter?

Are you left wing -- or do you just think you are?

Does college football affect who gets elected President of the United States? How about the Final Four?

Why politics is a mess and it's all your fault

Why do politicians rarely change their positions?

Why do political incumbents have an advantage?

You know why that country's citizens are miserable? Too many colors in their flag.

When it comes to politics, this is how shallow we are

Do liberals and conservatives dream differently?

How do our political leanings affect our investing?

Can you tell if someone is a Republican or Democrat just by looking at their face?

Does America thrive because the poor don't vote?

How to tell which countries are corrupt... by looking at traffic tickets

Is corruption widespread in Congress?

Is corruption the problem or just the wrong *kind* of corruption?

Is there *too little* money in politics?

Previous research suggests that compared to mobile phone use, eating and drinking while driving is more common and is seen as lower risk by drivers. Nevertheless, snacking at the wheel can affect vehicle control to a similar extent as using a hands-free phone, and is actually a causal factor in more crashes. So far, though, there has not been a controlled empirical study of this problem. In an effort to fill this gap in the literature, we used the Brunel University Driving Simulator to test participants on a typical urban scenario. At designated points on the drive, which coincided with instructions to eat or drink, a critical incident was simulated by programming a pedestrian to walk in front of the car. Whilst the driving performance variables measured were relatively unaffected by eating and drinking, perceived driver workload was significantly higher and there were more crashes in the critical incident when compared to driving normally. Despite some methodological limitations of the study, when taken together with previous research, the evidence suggests that the physical demands of eating and drinking while driving can increase the risk of a crash.

Source: "Crash dieting: The effects of eating and drinking on driving performance" from Accident Analysis & Prevention, Volume 40, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 142-148

If you're going to deal with car salesmen you will need one of these books.

Related posts:

What should you say to the police when you get pulled over for speeding?

Are minority police officers harsher when giving speeding tickets? Especially when giving them to minority drivers?

A quick and easy way to reduce drunk driving.

Are you less likely to get in a car accident if your GPS unit's voice matches your own emotional state?

What kind of car is most likely to get broken into by a hungry bear?

Why is traffic so bad on Mondays?

If your neighbor gets a new car, do you buy a new car?

Can car trade-ins hurt you?

Is it a good idea to buy a car for your son or daughter?

This paper develops an economic analysis of the toilet seat etiquette. I investigate whether there is any efficiency justification for the presumption that men should leave the toilet seat down after use. I find that the “down rule” is inefficient unless there is a large asymmetry in the inconvenience costs of shifting the position of the toilet seat across genders. I show that the “selfish” or the “status quo” rule that leaves the toilet seat in the position used dominates the down rule in a wide range of parameter spaces including the case where the inconvenience costs are the same.

Source: "UP OR DOWN? A MALE ECONOMIST'S MANIFESTO ON THE TOILET SEAT ETIQUETTE" from Economic Inquiry

I had a great long weekend. I highly recommend Life (narrated by David Attenborough). Watched it over the holiday and was very impressed. It's from the makers of the equally excellent Planet Earth.

Related posts:

Are men or women more likely to commit suicide after a divorce?

Do women accurately estimate the degree to which men are focused on sex?

Are female basketball players more predictable than male players?

Do Masculine Names Help Female Lawyers Become Judges?

Are men or women more democratic leaders?

Why do men cuddle after sex?

Is it only women who are negatively affected by idealized bodies in media?

Does income affect who cheats in a relationship?

The study examined the relationship between religion and symptoms of psychopathology, particularly obsessive-compulsive (OC) and scrupulosity symptoms. Religious affiliation, religiosity variables (strength of faith, religious application, the beliefs about God's nature), and cognitive factors (e.g., obsessive beliefs) were studied as predictors of OC and scrupulosity symptoms in 179 non-clinical participants. The main groups (Catholic, Protestant, and no religion) were not different with regard to measures of wellbeing or symptoms of general psychopathology (depression, anxiety, and stress), but were different with regard to OC symptoms. Consistent with cognitive theory, OC beliefs strongly predicted both OC and scrupulosity symptoms, even when general levels of psychopathology were controlled. Religion bore a less major but significant association with OC phenomena. Religious affiliation (being Catholic) was associated with higher levels of OC symptoms, and higher levels of personal religiosity (strength of faith) were associated with higher levels of scrupulosity.

Source: "Relationship between religion and obsessive phenomena" from Australian Journal of Psychology, Volume 62, Issue 2 July 2010 , pages 93 - 102

David Sedaris discusses his own struggle with OCD in his excellent book Naked.

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Do churches offer economic incentives to priests to increase membership?

Priest, Minister and Rabbi: Which one does the most for the public good?

Does the Biblical character Job meet the criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Which is a stronger religious motivator: getting into heaven or avoiding hell?

Are religious people more generous, giving and cooperative?

Does "will to live" really make a difference in when you die?

Why do people say they're "Spiritual but not religious"?

Does religion stress us out or relieve anxiety?

This study explored attentional patterns associated with positive and negative emotions during sport competition, and athletes' perceptions of the consequences of these attentional changes for concentration and performance. Sixty-nine athletes completed the Sport Emotion Questionnaire following a national softball competition. They also retrospectively reported their perceptions of how emotions influenced their attention, concentration, and sport performance. Excitement and happiness were more closely associated with concentration than anxiety, dejection, and anger. Although excitement demanded more attention than the negative emotions, the positive emotions were perceived as more likely to lead to a performance-relevant focus and automatic physical movements, both of which were beneficial for concentration and performance. Emotional intensity increased these effects.

Source: "Emotions in sport: Perceived effects on attention, concentration, and performance" from Australian Psychologist

Normally I recommend some good books on happiness when I post on the subject but I'm also curious about the other side of the debate (I didn't know there was a debate until recently.) This is now on my list to check out: Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America.

Tyler has posted more than once on whether it is better to be interesting or happy.

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Things you didn't know about happiness

Do happily married people sleep better?

What's the relationship between money, ambition, and happiness?

When Is Happiness About How Much You Earn?

Is it all relative? How about happiness?

Does marriage really make people happier?

Does the meaning of "happiness" change as we age?

Does how much money your friends and neighbors make reduce your happiness?

How to make yourself happier in just a few seconds

What makes us happiest: work, love or leisure?

Can thinking quickly make you happy?

How does what you have and what you want affect happiness?

Do happy people love their jobs or do good jobs make people happy?

Navigation systems are very useful tools because they display a user's location and guide them to a destination using graphics, text and voice information. Recent work has revealed that millions of consumers received driving directions using their cell phone or PDA. This present work aimed to explore whether the efficiency to destination and driver behavior were distinguishable when using a portable navigation system compared to a paper map. Thirty-two subjects were paid to participate in this research, with field experiments being carried out in both urban and rural environments. A smart phone was adopted as the portable navigation system in the study. The results revealed that the drivers performed better when using a portable navigation system compared to those using a paper map, in terms of efficiency to destination and driving performance. In addition, drivers could save time and gasoline using a portable navigation system when in an unfamiliar region, and driving performance may be safer, despite the fact that the display screen of the phone is small.

Source: "Effects of using a portable navigation system and paper map in real driving" from Accident Analysis & Prevention, Volume 40, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 303-308

Watched Moon this weekend and really enjoyed it. This movie definitely didn't get the attention it deserved.

Are you less likely to get in a car accident if your GPS unit's voice matches your own emotional state?

What do state governments do that actually increases the happiness of their citizens?

Are there more women than men in major cities because women want rich guys?

Which countries are the most kind to strangers?

Why is the divorce rate higher in cities?

Everybody hates commuting. Why do we do it?

Why you shouldn't trust scientists from Michigan and DC but should pay attention to ones from Nevada and Mississippi

Who is the most indecisive: people from America, China or Japan?

You know why that country's citizens are miserable? Too many colors in their flag.

How to tell which countries are corrupt... by looking at traffic tickets

Can you reduce corruption by sending people to London?

Do countries with fewer males have more violent crime?

What predicts whether a country will be tolerant of homosexuality?

Do the Irish really drink that much?

What Are The World's Friendliest Countries?

What happens when the government subsidizes the pill for teenage girls?

The effect of cognitive ability as indicated by a vocabulary test score on earnings by teachers and selected other occupations is estimated. Although test scores increase earnings for non-teacher occupations, the effect of test scores on teacher earnings is zero.

Source: "Teacher quality and earnings" from Economics Letters, Volume 99, Issue 2, May 2008, Pages 307-309

As far as teaching well, I've heard such great things about this book that it's on my to-read list and I'm not a teacher.

Related posts:

Do states with higher IQ's have less crime?

Do More Intelligent, More Dependable Children Live Longer?

Are extraverts smarter than introverts?

Is intelligence sexy?

Can you tell how smart your child is by how early they start lying?

Does obvious grade inflation hurt students?

Does being smart in high school = less sex?

Is your dog among the smartest breeds?

Do Smart Investors Outperform Dumb Investors?

Does doodling make you smarter?

Why Your Intelligence and Attractiveness Elude You

The Right Way To Praise Your Child's Intelligence

How to make your kid smarter

Does a woman's emotional intelligence affect her ability to orgasm?

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