Health Economics Commons^™

The Impacts Of Public Policies On Health-Related Outcomes, Yaxiang Song

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three chapters that study how public policies affect health-related outcomes in China. The first two papers examine the impacts of the country’s Critical Illness Insurance program on health-related outcomes. The third paper studies the effects of maternal education on children’s early childhood health outcomes and cognitive skills.

The first chapter evaluates the impact of a recent social health insurance benefits expansion program on middle-aged and elderly individuals. In 2012, China launched a Critical Illness Insurance (CII) program, which aimed to reduce out-of-pocket costs for individuals covered by the government’s health insurance programs. This chapter utilizes the …

Essays On Evaluating The Effects Of The Child Tax Credit, Hyein Kang

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays understanding how the Child Tax Credit (CTC) affects maternal labor supply, maternal health, and children’s outcomes. The CTC was implemented in 1998 tax year and has been expanded multiple times throughout the past 20 years. Chapter 1 examines the effect of the CTC on the labor supply of single and married mothers using the numerous policy reforms in the credit generosity and eligibility criteria since its inception in 1997. I use variation in the simulated benefits for a nationally representative sample to estimate the labor supply response at the extensive and intensive margins. Using …

Essays On The Role Of Policies In Major Public Health Issues, Anh Le

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation explores the role of policy on health outcomes and behaviors that relate to major public health concerns. Essay 1 and Essay 2 investigate the effects of Medicaid expansions on substance-use outcomes. Essay 3 examines the impacts of school reopenings in Texas on COVID-19 and mobility outcomes.

Essay 1 studies the effect of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion. Using State Drug Utilization Data 2011-2017, I find that the Medicaid expansion is associated with an increase of 40-60 Medicaid-paid opioid prescriptions per 1,000 people aged 19–64. However, the results suggest that post-expansion prescriptions are, on average, shorter or prescribed …

Three Essays On Trade, Environment, And Health, Sookti Chaudhary

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

My dissertation consists of three essays on trade, environment and health. The first essay empirically evaluates domestic facilities' environmental response to Chinese import competition in the United States (US) manufacturing sector from 2000 to 2010. Using facility-level data on chemical emissions and employing an instrumental variables approach, the paper finds that industry/regional exposure to increased import competition had very little impact on the environmental decisions of domestic facilities.

The second essay empirically explores a possible link between the environmental justice efforts during the Obama administration and the change in environmental inequity by examining the change in US facilities' underlying environmental …

The Impact Of Medicare Part D On Mortality And Financial Stability, Katherine Toran

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

Using the Health and Retirement Study Panel core files from 1996 to 2014, I analyze how Medicare Part D impacted access to prescription drug coverage by various demographic factors such as race, gender, and income. In Chapter 1, I find the highest take-up rates for those who were white, female, and with higher incomes. However, increases in coverage were high across the board, such that Medicare Part D also improved drug insurance coverage for those who were black, male, and with lower income. Thus, although Medicare Part D did increase prescription drug insurance coverage for seniors across the board, I …

Essays On Child Well-Being And The Social Safety Net, Cody N. Vaughn

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays examining the role of two particular social safety net programs, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), on the well-being of children from disadvantaged households. While the impact of these programs on the adults and parents of the household have been studied extensively, less is known about their effect on children. This is true for both their immediate impact on child well-being and any long-run impacts on children who grow up under these programs. Given the demonstrated importance of child well-being on later life adult outcomes, …

Essays On Transfer-Program Interactions Among Low-Income Households, Nicholas S. Moellman

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays examining the role of transfer-program interactions for families and households who participate in the social safety net. The safety net is comprised of many different programs, run by different agencies, governed by different rules, and often administered by disparate and secluded entities. However, many households participate in multiple programs, subjecting them to the milieu of administrative hurdles. In this dissertation, I try to untangle some of the intended and unintended effects of program participation that may be experienced by these households.

In Essay 1, I examine the effect of the Patient Protection and Affordable …

Essays On The Role Of Government Regulation And Policy In Health Care Markets, Grayson L. Forlines

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

Understanding how health care markets function is important not only because competition has a direct influence on the price and utilization of health care services, but also because the proper functioning, or lack thereof, of health care markets has a very real impact on patients who depend on health care markets and providers for their personal well-being. In this dissertation, I examine the role of government policies and regulation in health care markets, with a focus on the response of health care providers. In Chapter 1, I analyze the impact of Medicare payment rules on hospital ownership of physician practices. …

The Impact Of Cash Transfers On Labor Force Participation And Household Consumption: Evidence From Post-Apartheid South Africa, Steve M. M. Muchiri

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

The Old Age Pension (OAP) program for elderly South Africans puts a significant cash transfer in the hands of many poor households. This dissertation investigates its impact on labor force participation and consumption of selected household items. In the first half of the dissertation, we take advantage of a policy reform that lowered men's OAP eligibility age from 65 to 60 for men to match that of women for estimation identification. Using the General Household Survey data, we first demonstrate that both men and women respond to the eligibility age by dropping from labor force participation at the eligibility age, …

Essays On Job-Related Risks And Worker Sorting, Teguh Yudo Wicaksono

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation examines heterogeneity in the value of a statistical life (henceforth VSL) stemming from employer-provided health insurance (henceforth EHI) and worker sorting. The dissertation consists of three essays.

In the first essay (Chapter 2), I investigate the effect of health-driven productivity on the wage compensation for mortality risk, and how EHI influences VSL using the US labor market data. In this chapter I build a framework showing that the level of job risks influences the incentive of employers to provide EHI. The basic notion of the framework is that health insurance is an investment in health and health is …

Macroeconomic Effects And Microeconomic Determinants Of Fertility, Maria R. Apostolova-Mihaylova

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation focuses on the relationship between the education-based fertility gap and economic growth and on policy as a determinant of fertility.

In the first essay I evaluate the impact of differential fertility (the difference between fertility rates of women with high educational attainment and women with low educational attainment) on economic growth by accounting for critical marginal effects and the general level of educational attainment in a given country. I also examine the possibility that this effect varies based on level of inequality and income levels. I find that for a less developed country with high income inequality, higher …

Three Essays On The Health Insurance Coverage Of Young Adults, David M. Yaskewich

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation examines the health insurance status of young adults during the transition to adulthood. In a series of three essays, I analyze what happens as young adults reach important milestones and the effects of public policies. The first essay is a descriptive study on how insurance status changes after reaching age 19 and graduating from college. The likelihood of becoming uninsured rises sharply once turning age 19 and then peaks at age 23. While the proportion uninsured also increases following college graduation, this increase disappears after one year. The second essay analyzes the effect of a dependent age law …