Maternal employment and the health of low-income young children
This study examines whether maternal employment affects the health status of low-income, elementary-school-aged children using instrumental variables estimation and experimental data from a welfare-to-work program implemented in the early 1990s. Maternal report of child health status is predicted as a function of exogenous variation in maternal employment associated with random assignment to the experimental group. IV estimates show a modest adverse effect of maternal employment on children's health. Making use of data from another welfare-to-work program we propose that any adverse effect on child health may be tempered by increased family income and access to public health insurance coverage, findings with direct relevance to a number of current policy discussions. In a secondary analysis using fixed effects techniques on longitudinal survey data collected in 1998 and 2001, we find a comparable adverse effect of maternal employment on child health that supports the external validity of our primary result.
Year of publication: |
2010
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Authors: | Gennetian, Lisa A. ; Hill, Heather D. ; London, Andrew S. ; Lopoo, Leonard M. |
Published in: |
Journal of Health Economics. - Elsevier, ISSN 0167-6296. - Vol. 29.2010, 3, p. 353-363
|
Publisher: |
Elsevier |
Keywords: | Maternal employment Children's health Poverty Welfare |
Saved in:
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