This paper investigates the impact of airborne pollen on serious and fatal traffic accidents in the UK. Using daily county-level data from UK Met Office reporting sites spanning 2013–2023, I find that higher pollen concentrations cause an increase in severe traffic accidents. The effect seems to be driven by tree pollen in particular. The results are robust to a range of weather and air pollution controls and are further validated using simulated pollen data from Ambee (2016–2022). These findings underscore the role of seasonal health-related factors in shaping road safety outcomes. Additionally, I explore the use of thermal inversion as an instrumental variable for pollen exposure and raise serious concerns about the validity of the exogeneity assumption in this context, with implications for its application in air pollution research.

Die Einführung des ElterngeldPlus hatte unter anderem zum Ziel, die partnerschaftliche Aufteilung von Erwerbs- und Sorgearbeit zu fördern. Obwohl die Reform die gleichzeitige Teilzeitbeschäftigung von Müttern und Vätern im Bezugszeitraum deutlich attraktiver gemacht hat, wird diese Option weiterhin selten gewählt. Wir möchten untersuchen, inwiefern dieser Befund darauf zurückzuführen ist, dass die finanziellen Anreize im ElterngeldPlus nicht richtig verstanden werden. Zu diesem Zweck konzipieren wir ein Surveyexperiment, in dem sich die Teilnehmenden zwischen unterschiedlichen Möglichkeiten, die Erwerbsarbeit innerhalb eines Paares zu teilen, entscheiden müssen. Dabei variieren wir die Elterngeldregelungen, die Art der Informationsbereitstellung und die Einkommen der beiden Partner vor der Geburt. Somit können wir den Effekt der Informationsbereitstellung, der Reform selbst und deren Interaktion kausal identifizieren.

Since intra-household resource distribution is unobserved it is difficult to comparehow women and children fare across countries. To address this we analyze 45 household expenditure surveys from predominantly low- and middle-income countriesi.e. an international sample of around 2.4 million individuals. Using harmonized estimations of intra-household resource sharing we construct globally comparable measures of gender inequality and child poverty in consumption. Our findings reveala widespread imbalance: women receive about one-fifth less than men leading to a 60% higher poverty rate. Children appear to fare even worse though this is partlyexplained by differences in needs and sibling economies of scale. Intra-householdinequalities are more pronounced in poorer countries and among low-income households within countries. Cross-checks with nutritional proxies tend to validate ourresults linking household poverty and intra-household disparities to child undernutrition. Finally we decompose global individual consumption inequality and findthat 13%-32% (across measures) stems from inequality within households.