Health Economics Commons^™

The Affordable Care Act And Entrepreneurship Lock: An Updated Examination Of Employer-Based Healthcare’S Effect On Self-Employment By Demographic Group, Sean Ruddy

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper capitalizes on a natural experiment created by differences in Medicaid expansion under The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). A difference and difference model comparing states that did and did not expand Medicaid is conducted to investigate if providing an alternative and low-cost source of health insurance affects self-employment rates overall and across different demographic groups. The results suggest that living in a state that expanded Medicaid was associated with a 1.4 percent increase in the likelihood that an individual will be self-employed and that this effect is heterogeneous across different demographics, being largest among African Americans.

Wellbeing And Marriage: Does Marriage Improve Mental Health?, Maranda L. (Kahl) Joyce

Undergraduate Economic Review

With the decline in marriage rates and the rise in mental health issues, understanding the potential correlation between marital status and overall mental health is of economic importance. This research explores the potential effects of marital status on mental health in the U.S., using microdata from the 2016 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System. The role of marital status is examined on three different dependent variables. My results suggest that marriage is associated with a decrease in number of days of poor mental health, a decrease in the likelihood of a depressive disorder diagnosis, and an increase in overall life satisfaction.

The Effect Of Good Samaritan Laws (Gsl) On Opioid Overdose Mortality, Tarun Ramesh

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper investigates the effects of Good Samaritan Laws on opioid overdose mortality rates in the United States. Evaluating policy interventions in response to upticks in opioid mortality is crucial to enact federal legislation that protects communities. However, concerns about moral hazard implications could have profound impacts on current efforts to combat the epidemic. This paper will look at various policies proposed and evaluate the effects of such policies on overall mortality rates, elucidating the moral hazard effects of Good Samaritan Laws.

The Economics Of Weight Loss, Shivani Pandey

Undergraduate Economic Review

Obesity is now being considered one of the biggest health concerns globally. Ironically, while India records the largest no. of underweight population in the world along with China, it has also been placed in the top five countries in terms of obesity as per a new study by the Lancet Journal. Obesity entails various direct and indirect costs in terms of lower productivity and higher medical expenditure and has the potential to lower economic growth. This paper analyses the need for strengthening government regulations in the weight loss industry. After analyzing the causes of obesity and its negative effects on …

Impacts Of Contraception On Women’S Decision-Making Agency In Indonesia, Michaela J. Fogarty

Undergraduate Economic Review

Increasing access to contraception has the potential to empower women and improve the economic standing of families across the globe. Many researchers have explored the impacts of contraception on families and the determinants of women’s level of empowerment, but little scholarship exists on their direct relationship. This paper explores the impacts of contraceptive use on women’s empowerment, measured by a sum of women’s household decision-making agency. Panel data from three rounds of the Indonesian Family Life Survey is used to run multiple regressions with household fixed effects. Results suggest that women who use contraception have input on two additional types …

Swimming For More Than Gold: How Swimming Participation And Success In Elite International Swimming Events Can Decrease Drowning Rates Across The World, Joshua R. Cottle

Undergraduate Economic Review

International swimming provides an opportunity for thousands of swimmers to compete at the highest level of the sport. In this paper, I argue that participation and success in these events can influence drowning rates across the world. My analysis suggests that one of the most notable negative influences on drowning rates is swimming participation in countries that have the smallest roster sizes and the lowest average income levels. My analysis shows that swimming success in the Olympics has a significant positive effect on drowning rates in countries in the middle-income brackets.

Examining The Impact Of Education On Diabetes Rates, Mackenzie Bogiages

Undergraduate Economic Review

Diabetes rates are a problem of growing concern in the U.S. Over 30 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with diabetes, and over 90 percent of that group has the largely preventable type 2 diabetes. In order to thwart the disease that costs the U.S. $245 billion a year, the populations most susceptible to diabetes need to be identified and educated. Using data from MEPS, education and several other factors have been identified and their relationships with diabetes have been analyzed to target at risk populations and outline tactics to educate those in dire need of preventative care.

Measuring Health Outcomes Of Uncovered Employment: A Study Of Income, Social Mobility, Equality, And Health Indicators In An Under-Looked Segment Of The Labor Force, Zakariya Kmir

Undergraduate Economic Review

Economists have strongly supported the idea that unemployment causes many undesirable health outcomes. However, how does belonging to a different sector of employment tied closely to changes in minimum wage and inflation relate to overall health? To properly understand the numerical significance of health disparities in the uncovered sector of employment, this research is targeted at quantifying the relationship between the insured and non-insured within the uncovered sector. By substantiating the existence of severe health disparities as a function of the labor force dynamic, this research subsequently estimates the amount of inefficiency and negative health outcomes in the US economy …

Reducing The Geographic Variance In Medical Expenditures: The Benefits Of A Primary-Care-Oriented Health System, Noah Bricker

Undergraduate Economic Review

The Affordable Care Act states that a primary goal of health care reform should be to lower costs and promote fiscal responsibility. With these two goals in mind, the bill proposes a more primary-care-oriented health system by enacting a 5-year temporary Medicare fee increase for primary care physicians as a means to increase the number of physicians and incentivize more primary care services. Using county and regional level Medicare data, this paper finds that an increase in the number of primary care physicians per capita would reduce per beneficiary Medicare spending and as a consequence, lower national health expenditures substantially.

Can Human Capital Explain The Difference In Private Health Insurance Coverage Rates Between Natives And Immigrants?, Benjamin S. White

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper investigates how human capital variables, especially educational attainment and health disability, affect an immigrant’s probability to have private health insurance. Specifically, is there a convergence to natives’ coverage rates for immigrants as human capital is controlled for? Two probit regressions are used to answer this question, one to analyze the employer provided health insurance market and another to analyze privately purchased health insurance market. The principle finding is that human capital variables are important in determining access to private health insurance. However, a health insurance coverage differential does remain between immigrants and natives.

Factors Explaining Obesity In The Midwest: Evidence From Data, Josh Matti, Hansol Kim

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper attempts to determine the factors explaining obesity in the Midwest by using standard OLS multiple regression analysis and cross-sectional data. We examine independent variables related to built environment and determine effects on obesity. This study finds that some factors influencing calories consumed, such as percent of restaurants that are fast food, are consistent with the prior literature. However, other factors, such as the number of fast food restaurants per 1000 people, yield surprising results. The results of this study suggest that obesity is a multifaceted issue that is not close to being fully explained.

The Growing Concern Of Poverty In The United States: An Exploration Of Food Prices And Poverty On Obesity Rates For Low-Income Citizens, Catherine Gillespie, Kathy Gray, Ethan Bailey, John Zivalich

Undergraduate Economic Review

Studies demonstrate the link between income and obesity, determining factors to explain the strong correlation between high body mass index and low socioeconomic status. Many focus on uncovering predictors but few use a systems approach: identifying the interaction among predictors and their relative magnitude concerning obesity. This study asks: do poverty or food price indicators have a statistically stronger relationship with obesity?

By collecting data, evaluating trends, and analyzing statistics, this study extends research by revealing a stronger relationship between obesity and food prices as opposed to obesity and poverty.