THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT LAWS ON YOUTH SUICIDE

Using state‐level data on suicides from the period 1987 to 2003, we find that the adoption of a law requiring a parent's notification or consent before a minor can obtain an abortion is associated with an 11%–21% reduction in the number of 15‐ through 17‐year‐old females who commit suicide. In contrast, the adoption of a parental involvement law is not associated with a reduction in the number of older females who commit suicide or in the number of 15‐ through 17‐year‐old males who commit suicide. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that parental involvement laws represent an increase in the expected cost of having unprotected sex, and, as a consequence, serve to protect young females from depression and what have been termed “stressful life events” such as conflict with a parent or an abortion. (JEL I18, I10, J13)     

MONETARY POLICY, BANKING, AND GROWTH

There is ample empirical evidence suggesting that countries with high inflation tend to grow slower than countries with low inflation. Based on the regression evidence, the inflation-rate effect is fairly large; on average, per-capita real GDP grows between 1/4- and 3/4- percentage-points slower in a country in which the average inflation rate is 10% as compared with a country in which inflation is 0%. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether a model economy that is reasonably calibrated can account for such large inflation-rate effects. The answer is yes. ( JEL O41, E58)     

The Similarity of Political Values of Parents and College-age Youths

Studies of college students over the past decade have most ofteninferred a high rate of intergenerational continuity of politicalvalues. In contrast, political socialization studies have concludedthat parent-youth similarity is low to moderate except in thecase of party identification. Analysis of interviews with arepresentative national sample of seventeen- to twenty-three-years-olds,along with independent interviews with their parents, supportsthe political socialization tradition for nonstudents and studentsalike, including student activists and students at elite colleges.     

The multipolar regionalization of cities in multinational firms' networks

This article identifies the most cohesive multi‐polar regions of the network of world cities, which differ from the unipolar centre–periphery model largely created by the high weight of central city connections. We use a community detection algorithm that outlines the high densities of city networks (in relative weights). Various patterns of industries and services, which are divided into two skill levels, are identified. We use a global database of the network of 1.2 million direct and indirect ownership links between the 800,000 subsidiaries of the top 3000 multinational groups in 2013, allowing us to build four comparable networks of 503 metropolitan areas. Comparing the obtained partitions with continental, regional and economic benchmarks, classes of cities partially correspond to free trade zones (FTZs) but exhibit interesting cross‐continental patterns. A few cities, changing their classes according to the activities, are discussed in the light of the multinational firms' strategies.