The authors of ‘Happiness and the Human Development Index: The Paradox of Australia’ claim that Australia ranks highly in the Human Development Index (HDI), but relatively poorly in happiness. But when Andrew Leigh and Justin Wolfers compare that happiness data with the HDI, Australia appears happier, not sadder, than its HDI score would predict. Their...

Analysing the characteristics of low wage workers, Andrew Leigh finds that those who earn near-minimum wages are disproportionately female, unmarried and young, without post-school qualifications and overseas born. About a third of near-minimum wage workers are the sole worker in their household. Using various plausible parameters for the effect of minimum wages on hourly wages...

Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan compare three quasi-experimental approaches to estimating the returns to schooling in Australia: instrumenting schooling using month of birth, instrumenting schooling using changes in compulsory schooling laws, and comparing outcomes for twins. Abstract

Do income taxes levied at a state or regional level affect the after-tax distribution of income? Or do workers merely move between regions, causing pre-tax wages to adjust? Andrew Leigh draws on evidence from the United States and the European Union to explore this question.

With many countries considering the adoption of a system of earned income tax credits, it is useful to analyse how different types of credits affect labor supply and earnings. Andrew Leigh focuses on a 1999 reform to the UK tax credit system, which increased the value of the credit and reduced the phase-out rate. Using...