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  5. New Frontiers in the Economics of the Social Safety Net
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New Frontiers in the Economics of the Social Safety Net

Paper Session

Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (CST)

Grand Hyatt, Texas Ballroom Salon E
This session was streamed live.
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Hilary Hoynes, University of California-Berkeley

The Impact of Family Tax Benefits on Children’s Health and Educational Outcomes

Mark Stabile
,
INSEAD
Michael Baker
,
University of Toronto
Kourtney Koebel
,
University of Toronto

Abstract

We leverage recent income support reforms for families with children in Canada to investigate the impact of child benefits on child health and educational outcomes. Using administrative school data from British Columbia linked to parent’s tax files, we find evidence that increased family benefit generosity improved children’s mental health, but little evidence of any change in test scores from standardized exams. Our results suggest that most of the mental health effect is concentrated among girls and that relative improvements in mental health were larger among children in higher income families.

Universal Basic Income and Moving to Opportunity

Randall Akee
,
University of California-Los Angeles
Emilia Simeonova
,
Johns Hopkins University
Maggie R. Jones
,
U.S. Census Bureau

Abstract

Universal Basic Income payments can affect employment decisions and small business investments. It may also affect where a person decides to live. In this analysis, we will analyze the effect that universal basic income has on residential decisions for treated individuals. Our analysis will examine whether there are changes in residential location after the start of the UBI payments for Native Americans who reside off of reservation lands. We will examine average residential income and earnings by location as well as average educational attainment.

Access to Contraception and the Social Safety Net

Martha Bailey
,
University of California-Los Angeles
Lea Bart
,
University of Michigan
Katie Genadek
,
Minnesota Population Center
Vanessa Lang
,
University of Michigan

Abstract

This paper uses a randomized control trial to examine how subsidies affect the use of contraceptives of uninsured, low-income women seeking reproductive health care in the U.S. Study participants are randomized to receive vouchers which cover up to 50% or 100% of a name-brand intrauterine device and followed in administrative and survey data.  This paper documents the effect of this intervention on public assistance receipt up to three years after the intervention as well as heterogeneity in these effects. We also document mediators for these effects, including higher own wage earnings, changes in partnership status and increases in other sources of household income, and reductions in the number of dependents.

Discussant(s)
Katherine Meckel
,
University of California-San Diego
Manasi Deshpande
,
University of Chicago
Molly Kathleen Schnell
,
Northwestern University
JEL Classifications
  • I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
  • J1 - Demographic Economics