Strict containment limits the spread of pandemics but is difficult to achieve when people must continue to work to avoid poverty. A new role is emerging for income support: by enabling people to effectively stay home, it can produce substantial health externalities. We examine this issue using...

We investigate the effects of incentivizing early prenatal care utilization on infant health by exploiting a reform that required expectant mothers to initiate prenatal care during the first ten weeks of gestation to obtain a one-time monetary transfer paid after childbirth. Applying a...

In the 1990’s, the United States reformed its welfare system through state waivers and the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. These changes altered family insurance access and economic resources available to invest the health of children. Using data from the Panel...

Recent economic literature has advanced the notion that cognitive biases and behavioural barriers may be important influencers of uptake decisions in respect of public programs that are designed to help disadvantaged people. This paper provides the first evidence on the determinants of uptake of...

We investigated the effects of the timing of early prenatal care on infant health by exploiting a reform that required expectant mothers to initiate prenatal care during the first ten weeks of gestation to obtain a one-time monetary transfer paid after childbirth. Applying a...

This chapter reviews the behavioral and redistributive effects of transfer programs targeted at working-age people with disabilities. While we primarily focus on the United States, we also include programs in the Federal Republic of Germany, The Netherlands, and Sweden. We look at how the...

In a widely cited 1995 paper, Aaron Yelowitz concluded that Medicaid eligibility expansions for children were associated with increased labor force participation and reduced welfare participation among single mothers. The authors of the present study, using data from the 1988-96 Current...

This paper evaluates how sick pay mandates operate at the job level in the United States. Using the National Compensation Survey and difference-in-differences models, we estimate their impact on coverage rates, sick leave use, labor costs, and non-mandated fringe benefits. Sick pay mandates...

Over the past 20 years, the Supplemental Security Income Program (SSI), which provides federally funded income support for disabled individuals, has become one of the most important means-tested cash aid programs in the United States. However, little research has examined the determinants of...

Over the past 20 years, the Supplemental Security Income Program (SSI), which provides federally funded income support for disabled individuals, has become one of the most important means‐tested cash aid programs in the United States. However, little research has examined the determinants of...