This project studies the effects of the housing subsidy program in Mexico, with particular focus on the notion that increased access to housing influences labor force and civic participation as well as measures of family health and well-being. Using a unique administrative data set, Hastings estimates the impact that home ownership has on economic outcomes such as labor-market stability, civic participation, and investment in savings and childhood education.

Weil’s recent research focuses on how changes in health and fertility affect economic growth in the setting of developing countries. Regarding health, he has examined how improvements in overall health, as proxied by life expectancy, as well as control of specific diseases (malaria and tuberculosis) feeds through channels such as worker productivity, human capital accumulation, and population age structure to effect the level of income per capita.