An Economic Analysis of Risky Behavior among Youths.

• Position: National Bureau for Economic Research's Program on Children conference

The NBER's Program on Children, which is directed by Jonathan Gruber of NBER and MIT, convened researchers on December 10 and 11 to discuss "Risky Behavior among Youths." The following papers were presented at the two-day session:

Jonathan Gruber and Jonathan Zinman, MIT, "Youth Smoking in the United States: Evidence and Implications"

Discussant: Donald Kenkel, Cornell University

Thomas Dee, Swarthmore College, and William N. Evans, NBER and University of Maryland, "Teens and Traffic Safety"

Discussant: James M. Poterba, NBER and MIT

Phillip Levine, NBER and Wellesley College, "The Sexual Activity and Birth Control Use of American Teenagers"

Discussant: Douglas O. Staiger, NBER and Dartmouth College

Philip J. Cook and Michael J. Moore, NBER and Duke University, "Environment and Persistence in Youthful Drinking Patterns"

Discussant: John Mullahy, NBER and University of Wisconsin

David M. Cutler and Edward L. Glaeser, NBER and Harvard University; and Karen Norberg, Boston Medical Center, "Suicide"

Discussant: Sendhill Mullainathan, NBER and MIT

Steven D. Levitt, NBER and University of Chicago, and Lance Lochner, University of Rochester, "The Determinants of Juvenile Crimes"

Discussant: Richard B. Freeman, NBER and Harvard University

Rosalie L. Pacula, NBER and Rand; Michael Grossman, NBER and City University of New York Graduate School; Frank J. Chaloupka, NBER and University of Illinois at Chicago; Matthew C. Farrelly, Research Triangle Institute; and Lloyd D. Johnston and Patrick M. O'Malley, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, "Marijuana and Youth"

Discussant: John DiNardo, NBER and University of California, Irvine

Discussant: Sarah McLanahan, Princeton University

Janet Currie, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles, and Jay Bhattacharya, Rand, "Youths at Nutritional Risk: Determinants and Consequences"

Ted O'Donoghue, Cornell University, and Matthew Rabin, University of California, Berkeley, "Risky Behavior among Youths: Some Issues from Behavioral Economics"

The rate of teen smoking rose by one-third in the 1990s. Cruber and Zinman explore four aspects of the decision by youths to smoke. They find that smoking participation is not simply concentrated among the most disadvantaged youth; indeed, increasingly over time youth smoking is taking place among white, suburban youth who have college-educated parents and good grades. The authors also show that neither changes in demographic characteristics nor new...