DID REFORM OF THE NON‐GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE MARKET AFFECT THE DECISION TO BE SELF‐EMPLOYED? EVIDENCE FROM STATE REFORMS IN THE 1990s

SUMMARYThis paper estimates whether state‐level implementation of community rating and guaranteed issue regulations in the non‐group health insurance market during the 1990s affected the decision of taxpayers to be self‐employed. Using a panel of tax returns that span 1987–2000, we find no statistically significant effect of the reforms on the propensity to be self‐employed overall, although we find evidence of an increase in self‐employment among older taxpayers and weaker evidence of decreases among younger cohorts. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.