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From the Publisher: Better Living Through Economics consists of twelve case studies that demonstrate how economic research has improved economic and social conditions over the past half century by influencing public policy decisions. Economists were obviously instrumental in revising the consumer price index and in devising auctions for allocating spectrum rights to cell phone providers in the 1990s. But perhaps more surprisingly, economists built the foundation for eliminating the military draft in favor of an all-volunteer army in 1973, for passing the Earned Income Tax Credit in 1975, for deregulating airlines in 1978, for adopting the welfare-to-work reforms during the Clinton administration, and for implementing the Pension Reform Act of 2006 that allowed employers to automatically enroll employees in a 401(k). Other important policy changes resulting from economists' research include a new approach to monetary policy that resulted in moderated economic fluctuations (at least until 2008!), the reduction of trade impediments that allows countries to better exploit their natural advantages, a revision of antitrust policy to focus on those market characteristics that affect competition, an improved method of placing new physicians in hospital residencies that is more likely to keep married couples in the same city, and the adoption of tradable emissions rights which has improved our environment at minimum cost.

AbstractThe Allied Social Science Associations is a marketing name for an annual three‐day, citywide conference of about 9,000 economists that is organized, managed, and controlled by the American Economic Association (AEA). AEA invites the participation of about 50 additional (i.e., allied) economics‐related societies that organize the scholarly content of a portion of the ASSA meetings. It is this broader meeting that operates under the ASSA flag. Although the AEA has met periodically with other social science associations since the 19th century, the current format dates back to the 1960s. The convention rotates among approximately 10 large U.S. cities. A centralized staff at AEA headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee has managed the convention since 1986. The ASSA name was first used on the conference program in 1952.