Publications
Short-Run Effects of Parental Job Loss on Child Health, with Jessamyn Schaller.
[Accepted at American Journal of Health Economics, a previous version circulated as NBER Working Paper No. 21745]
Abstract: Recent research suggests that parental job loss has negative effects on children's outcomes, including their academic achievement and long-run educational and labor market outcomes. In this paper we turn our attention to the effects of parental job loss on children's health. We combine health data from 16 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which allows us to use a fixed effects specification and still have a large sample of parental job displacements. We find that paternal job loss is detrimental to children's mental health, and among children in low-socioeconomic status (SES) families it is also associated with increases in the incidence of fair or poor physical health, injuries, and infectious conditions. By contrast, we find that maternal job loss does not have detrimental effects on child health, and in fact leads to small reductions in the incidence of infectious conditions among children in high-SES families. Increases in public health insurance coverage compensate for a large share of the loss in private coverage that follows parental displacement, and we find no significant changes in medical care utilization.
[Accepted at American Journal of Health Economics, a previous version circulated as NBER Working Paper No. 21745]
Abstract: Recent research suggests that parental job loss has negative effects on children's outcomes, including their academic achievement and long-run educational and labor market outcomes. In this paper we turn our attention to the effects of parental job loss on children's health. We combine health data from 16 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which allows us to use a fixed effects specification and still have a large sample of parental job displacements. We find that paternal job loss is detrimental to children's mental health, and among children in low-socioeconomic status (SES) families it is also associated with increases in the incidence of fair or poor physical health, injuries, and infectious conditions. By contrast, we find that maternal job loss does not have detrimental effects on child health, and in fact leads to small reductions in the incidence of infectious conditions among children in high-SES families. Increases in public health insurance coverage compensate for a large share of the loss in private coverage that follows parental displacement, and we find no significant changes in medical care utilization.
Working Papers
Preschool Attendance and Child Health and Development: Evidence from State Pre-K Programs
Abstract: This paper analyzes the effects of attending state pre-kindergarten programs on child health and development up to eight years after preschool age. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, the Current Population Survey, state legislature and other sources, I implement reduced-form and two-sample two-stage least squares regression models that exploit the variation in the timing of the implementation of pre-K programs across states. The reduced-form results indicate that boys who live in states that had pre-K programs when they were 4 years old are less likely to receive special education services in the following four years, and their developmental outcomes are improved five to eight years after preschool age. I also find that boys and girls in states with pre-K programs have increased health problems in the first four years after preschool age. In the instrumental variables analysis, my first-stage estimates indicate that the implementation of pre-K programs increases preschool enrollment rates by close to 8 percentage points. When I use this result to estimate the size of treatment-on-the-treated effects of preschool attendance on child outcomes, using pre-K programs as an instrument, the results imply large effects on both developmental and health outcomes.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the effects of attending state pre-kindergarten programs on child health and development up to eight years after preschool age. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, the Current Population Survey, state legislature and other sources, I implement reduced-form and two-sample two-stage least squares regression models that exploit the variation in the timing of the implementation of pre-K programs across states. The reduced-form results indicate that boys who live in states that had pre-K programs when they were 4 years old are less likely to receive special education services in the following four years, and their developmental outcomes are improved five to eight years after preschool age. I also find that boys and girls in states with pre-K programs have increased health problems in the first four years after preschool age. In the instrumental variables analysis, my first-stage estimates indicate that the implementation of pre-K programs increases preschool enrollment rates by close to 8 percentage points. When I use this result to estimate the size of treatment-on-the-treated effects of preschool attendance on child outcomes, using pre-K programs as an instrument, the results imply large effects on both developmental and health outcomes.
Work in Progress
Children's health insurance coverage and health expenses after parental job loss: Are families landing in or falling through the safety net? With Chloe East, Elira Kuka, and Jessamyn Schaller.
Social Assistance and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the Uruguayan PANES. With Marco Manacorda and Andrea Vigorito.
Family Income and Human Capital Investments: The impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Preschool Enrollment.
