Poor enough
The effect of unstable housing on HIV treatment biomarkers: An instrumental variables approach
Omar Galárraga et al.
Social Science & Medicine, October 2018, Pages 70-82
Abstract:
Unstable housing, including homelessness, is a public policy concern for all populations, and more critically for people with a serious health condition such as HIV. We measure the effect of unstable housing on HIV treatment biomarkers: viral suppression (viral load < 200 HIV RNA copies per ml) and adequate CD4+ T-cell count (CD4>350 cells per μl). We use panel data (1995–2015) from 3082 participants of the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) sites in Bronx and Brooklyn (NY), Chicago (IL), Los Angeles and San Francisco (CA), and Washington (DC). The instrumental variable (IV) measures allocations for the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) per person newly infected with HIV, and it represents actual availability of housing assistance for HIV-positive persons at the metropolitan area level. Using an extended probit model with the IV, we find that unstable housing reduces the likelihood of viral suppression by 51 percentage points, and decreases the probability of having adequate CD4 cell count by 53 percentage points. The endogeneity-corrected results are larger than naïve probits, which show decreases of 8.1 and 7.8 percentage points, respectively. The hypothesized pathways for the effect are: decreased use of mental healthcare/counseling, any healthcare, and less continuity of care. Increasing efforts to improve housing assistance, including HOPWA, and other interventions to make housing more affordable for low-income populations, and HIV-positive populations in particular, may be warranted not only for the benefits of stable housing, but also to improve HIV-related biomarkers.
The Consequences of Long-Term Unemployment: Evidence from Linked Survey and Administrative Data
Katharine Abraham et al.
ILR Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
That the long-term unemployed fare worse in the labor market than do the short-term unemployed is well-known, but why? One potential explanation is that the long-term unemployed are “bad apples” who had poorer prospects from the outset of their spells (heterogeneity). Another is that these bad outcomes are a consequence of their extended unemployment (state dependence). The authors use Current Population Survey data on unemployed individuals linked to unemployment insurance wage records for the same people to distinguish between these explanations. The rich work history information contained in the wage records allows the authors to control for individual heterogeneity that could affect post-unemployment labor market outcomes. Even with these controls in place, they find that unemployment duration has a strongly negative effect on the likelihood of subsequent employment. The results are robust to accounting for differences in the labor market conditions experienced by the long-term and short-term unemployed.
Foster Care and the Earned Income Tax Credit
Amelia Biehl & Brian Hill
Review of Economics of the Household, September 2018, Pages 661–680
Abstract:
Foster care is a source of significant costs to both governments and foster children. Policies that provide income support to households potentially reduce entry into foster care via reducing child maltreatment and improving child behavior. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 (ARRA2009), the federal government expanded the earned income tax credit (EITC), which is an important income support program for low-income working households. Using state-level data, we investigate the impact of this EITC expansion on state-level foster care entry rates. Typically, states with state-level EITC match federal EITC spending at a specific rate, meaning that increases in federal EITC spending increase state-level spending as well. We find that expansion of EITC decreased foster care entry rates by 7.43% per year in states with a state-level EITC, relative to those without. In models that separately examine foster care entry rates by age of the child, we find that the ARRA2009 had different effects on foster care entry based on the child’s age. We find that ARRA2009 decreased foster care entry rates for children age 11–15 by nearly 12% in states with a state EITC and it decreased foster care entry rates for children age 16–20 by roughly 17% in states with a state EITC, relative to states without a state EITC.
Supplemental Security Income and Child Outcomes: Evidence from Birth Weight Eligibility Cutoffs
Melanie Guldi et al.
NBER Working Paper, August 2018
Abstract:
Low birth weight infants born to mothers with low educational attainment have a double hurdle to overcome in the production of human capital. We examine whether income transfers in the form of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for children with disabilities can help close the gap in outcomes due to this initial health and environmental disadvantage. We exploit a discontinuity in SSI eligibility at 1200 grams and use a regression discontinuity approach to produce causal estimates of the effects of SSI eligibility. We find that eligibility increases disability benefit participation, improves child outcomes and parenting behaviors, and shifts maternal labor supply from full to part time.
The Effect of Food Stamps on Children’s Health: Evidence from Immigrants’ Changing Eligibility
Chloe East
Journal of Human Resources, forthcoming
Abstract:
The Food Stamp program is currently one of the largest safety net programs in the United States and is especially important for families with children. The existing evidence on the effects of Food Stamps on children’s and families’ outcomes is limited. I utilize a large, recent source of quasi-experimental variation – changes in documented immigrants’ eligibility across states and over time from 1996 to 2003 – to estimate the effect of Food Stamps on children’s health. I find loss of parental eligibility has large effects on program receipt, and an additional year of parental eligibility before age 5 improves health outcomes at ages 6-16.
The Impact of Housing Assistance on the Mental Health of Children in the United States
Andrew Fenelon et al.
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, September 2018, Pages 447-463
Abstract:
Housing assistance policies may lead to improved mental health for children and adolescents by improving housing quality, stability, and affordability. We use a unique data linkage of the National Health Interview Survey and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development administrative data to examine the impact of housing assistance on parent-reported mental health outcomes for children ages 2 to 17 (N = 1,967). We account for selection into housing assistance using a pseudo-waitlist method that compares children receiving assistance to those who will enter housing assistance within two years of their interview. Compared to those in the pseudo-waitlist group, we find that children living in public housing have better mental health outcomes. We do not find similar benefits for children receiving vouchers. Our results suggest that housing assistance policies can have a positive impact on mental health among disadvantaged children.
Effects of child care subsidy on school readiness of young children with or at-risk for special needs
Amanda Sullivan et al.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Children with special needs are now a population of special interest under federal child care policy. Findings on the effects of child care subsidy for the general population are mixed, but no studies have considered the effects for children with or at-risk for special needs. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the average effects of child care subsidies on school readiness of children with or at-risk for special needs. Using data for 1250 participants in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth Cohort, we applied propensity score matching and regression analyses to estimate subsidy’s effects on kindergarten academic and behavioral competencies of children with or at-risk for special needs who came from low-income families. Results indicated that for the average recipient, subsidized child care had significant negative effects on early literacy (d = 0.21) and numeracy (d = 0.18), and no significant effects on communication, impulsivity, hyperactivity, and prosocial behavior. These findings add to a growing number of largescale analyses showing negative or null effects of subsidized care on early childhood outcomes and highlight the need for continued attention to the appropriateness and effectiveness of subsidized child care, particularly for children with or at-risk for special needs.
Neighborhoods and Food Insecurity in Households with Young Children: A Disadvantage Paradox?
Justin Denney, Rachel Tolbert Kimbro & Gregory Sharp
Social Problems, August 2018, Pages 342–359
Abstract:
In the United States, more than 1 in 5 households with children are unable to access and provide adequate food for a healthy, active lifestyle. We argue that the contribution of local context for food insecurity risk has largely been overlooked in favor of focusing on individual family characteristics, and that this is problematic given that mitigating food insecurity may be a communal process. We examine the relevance of neighborhood contributors to food insecurity among children, utilizing geocoded and nationally-representative data from the ECLS-K: 2010-2011 kindergarten cohort. We find little evidence that neighborhood socioeconomic, food retail, or social services characteristics directly impact food insecurity risk. However, our results reveal that family and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics combine to impact food insecurity in ways consistent with a disadvantage paradox. As neighborhood concentrated disadvantage increases, higher-SES families’ risk of food insecurity increases, but lower-SES families’ risk decreases. This paradox is not explained by a higher concentration of social service organizations in more disadvantaged neighborhoods, and we theorize that impoverished families with children may share information and resources in disadvantaged communities to avoid food insecurity.
The Economics of Food Vendors Specialized to Serving the Women, Infants, and Children Program
Patrick McLaughlin, Tina Saitone & Richard Sexton
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the impacts of food vendors that have emerged primarily or exclusively to redeem benefits for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program. Federal regulations impose strict requirements on state WIC agencies which authorize vendors that derive more than 50% of their food sales through WIC. Such vendors are commonly known as above-50 or A50 vendors, and most state WIC agencies do not authorize them. Using extensive transactions-level data for the Greater Los Angeles area (GLA), we examine A50 vendors’ performance in the WIC program, including their pricing behavior relative to other WIC vendors in a but-for world where A50 vendors are not authorized. We also conduct econometric tests designed to gauge A50 vendors’ impacts on WIC program access and participation, and costs charged for WIC foods by other program vendors. Results indicate that A50 vendors operating in GLA (a) modestly reduced WIC program food costs relative to a but-for world where they were not authorized, (b) had a modest pro-competitive effect on the pricing behavior of small, non-A50 vendors, which have tended to charge the highest absolute prices for WIC foods in California, (c) caused a modest reduction in participant travel distance (and, hence, transaction costs), and (d) appear to have facilitated participant access. On balance, our results suggest that A50 vendors can improve the food-delivery environment for the WIC program and facilitate participant access to WIC benefits without imposing additional food costs on the program.
The EITC and the labor supply of adult dependents: Direct effects and family income effects
Margaret McKeehan
Review of Economics of the Household, September 2018, Pages 791–807
Abstract:
Tax data suggest that the population of adult dependents — adults relying on the support of others for the majority of their financial needs — has more than doubled over the last decade. However, little is known about how taxes affect the labor supply decisions of this population. This paper provides an initial investigation, studying the impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) expansions of the early 1990s on the labor supply of adult dependents living with their relatives. I find that dependent individuals who were not a part of the nuclear family responded to the EITC expansions, increasing labor force participation by about 5 percentage points. For adult children, I show that the absence of a net response is likely due to an unexpected consequence of the EITC: expanded family credits led to a decrease in their labor force participation.
Behavioral Responses and Welfare Reform: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
Robert Paul Hartley & Carlos Lamarche
Labour Economics, October 2018, Pages 135-151
Abstract:
Recent studies have used a distributional analysis of welfare reform experiments suggesting that some individuals reduce hours in order to opt into welfare, an example of behavioral-induced participation. Using data on Connecticut’s Jobs First experiment, we find no evidence of behavioral-induced participation at the highest conditional quantiles of earnings. We offer a simple explanation for this: women assigned to Jobs First incur welfare participation costs to labor supply at higher earnings where the control group is welfare ineligible. Moreover, as expected, behavioral components and costs of program participation do not seem to play a differential role at other conditional quantiles where both groups are eligible to participate. Our findings show that a welfare program imposes an estimated cost up to 10 percent of quarterly earnings, and these costs can be heterogeneous throughout the conditional earnings distribution. The evidence is obtained by employing a semi-parametric panel quantile estimator for a model that allows women to vary arbitrarily in costs of participating in welfare programs.