Current mammography guidelines reflect evidence that mammography could be harmful on average through the overdiagnosis of breast cancers that would not eventually cause symptoms in the long term. To inform targeting within these guidelines, I investigate whether some women are more likely to...

We examine the effect of gaining prescription drug insurance as a result of Medicare Part D on use of prescription drugs, use of other medical services, and health for a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries. Given the heightened importance of prescription drugs for those...

Public technology assessments in general and Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) in particular have been justified by offsetting benefits of improving patient health and reducing health care spending. However, little conceptual and empirical understanding exists concerning the quantitative...

This paper examines the impacts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) - which substantially increased insurance coverage through regulations, mandates, subsidies, and Medicaid expansions - on behaviors related to future health risks after three years. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor...

In 2004, France introduced a national program of organized breast cancer screening. The national program built on pre-existing local programs in some, but not all, départements. Using data from multiple waves of a nationally representative biennial survey of the French population, we estimate...

While economists have posited that health investments increase earnings, isolating the causal effect of health is challenging due both to reverse causality and unobserved heterogeneity. We examine the labor market effects of a randomized controlled trial, the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention...

Childhood vaccinations are an important input to disease prevention, but vaccination rates have declined over the last decade due largely to parental fears about vaccine dangers. Education campaigns on the safety of vaccines seem to have little impact. Anecdotal evidence on disease outbreaks...

The minimum wage has increased in multiple states over the past three decades. We examine the impact of the state minimum wage on infant health. Using data on the universe of births in the US over 24 years, we find that an increase in the minimum wage is associated with an increase in birth...

The U.S. population receives suboptimal levels of preventive care and has a high prevalence of risky health behaviors. One goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to increase preventive care and improve health behaviors by expanding access to health insurance

Although the impact of education on health is important for economic policy in developing countries, the overwhelming majority of research to identify the health returns to education has been done using data from developed countries. We use data from three waves of a nationally-representative...