Talking to women about birth can be polarizing.

There is some risk to increase birth defects if you do a lot of outdoor gardening when you are pregnant. That can increase rates of toxoplasmosis.

Being pregnant was a lot like being a child again. There was always someone telling you what to do.

As people do a task, they improve at it.

For many women - myself included - pregnancy brings on tremendous anxiety and confusion, along with the joy.

When I meet people on airplanes and they find out I'm an economist, they usually ask about stock tips.

One of the big take-aways from a lot of economic theory is that people should engage in consumption smoothing.