License to die

[Research Highlight]

December 01, 2021

What impact does driving have on teenage mortality and risky behavior?

Abortion and health care

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Does legal abortion reduce maternal mortality?

Nonrepresentativeness in Population Health Research: Evidence from a COVID-19 Antibody Study

By Deniz Dutz, Michael Greenstone, Ali Hortaçsu, Santiago Lacouture, Magne Mogstad, Azeem M. Shaikh, Alexander Torgovitsky, and Winnie van Dijk

American Economic Review: Insights, September 2024

We analyze representativeness in a COVID-19 serological study with randomized participation incentives. We find large participation gaps by race and income when incentives are lower. High incentives increase participation rates for all groups but increase...

The Socioeconomic Distribution of Choice Quality: Evidence from Health Insurance in the Netherlands

By Benjamin Handel, Jonathan Kolstad, Thomas Minten, and Johannes Spinnewijn

American Economic Review: Insights, September 2024

We study how choice quality relates to socioeconomic factors, using population-wide data on health insurance choices and utilization in the Netherlands. We document a striking choice quality gradient with respect to socioeconomic status, finding that thos...

New Advances on an Old Question: Does Money Matter for Children's Outcomes?

By Marianne E. Page

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2024

Family income is a positive predictor of children's health, human capital, and later-life earnings, but determining the extent to which these associations reflect causal effects is challenging. A recent wave of natural and randomized experiments, togeth...

Ulbe Bosma. The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years

By David Just

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2024

When Dad Can Stay Home: Fathers' Workplace Flexibility and Maternal Health

By Petra Persson and Maya Rossin-Slater

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2024

We study how fathers' access to workplace flexibility affects maternal postpartum health. We use variation from a Swedish reform that granted new fathers more flexibility to take intermittent parental leave during the postpartum period and show that incre...

Women Left Behind: Gender Disparities in Utilization of Government Health Insurance in India

By Pascaline Dupas and Radhika Jain

American Economic Review, October 2024

We document large gender disparities within a government program that entitles 46 million poor individuals to free hospital care. We show that care is not free in practice and higher costs are associated with larger disparities. Lowering care costs increa...

The Effects of a Large-Scale Mental Health Reform: Evidence from Brazil

By Mateus Dias and Luiz Felipe Fontes

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, August 2024

This paper studies the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform, which reorganized the public mental health care provision by introducing mental health centers (CAPS) as a community-based substitute for inpatient care. Our research design exploits the rollout of CAPS...

Mental health reform in Brazil

[Research Highlight]

October 07, 2024

The effects of deinstitutionalization.

Agricultural productivity and chronic disease

[Research Highlight]

October 17, 2024

Sheetal Sekhri discusses the impact of the Green Revolution on long-term health outcomes in India.

Merchants of Death: The Effect of Credit Supply Shocks on Hospital Outcomes

By Cyrus Aghamolla, Pinar Karaca-Mandic, Xuelin Li, and Richard T. Thakor

American Economic Review, November 2024

This study examines the link between credit supply and hospital health outcomes. We use bank stress tests as exogenous shocks to credit access for hospitals that have lending relationships with tested banks. We find that affected hospitals shift their ope...

Remote Instruction and Student Mental Health: Swedish Evidence from the Pandemic

By Evelina Björkegren, Helena Svaleryd, and Jonas Vlachos

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, November 2024

When COVID-19 reached Sweden, upper-secondary students (ages 17–19) transitioned to remote instruction, while lower-secondary schools (ages 14–16) remained open. We use this setting as a natural experiment to analyze how modes of instruction affect st...

Medical Expenses and Saving in Retirement: The Case of the United States and Sweden

By Makoto Nakajima and Irina A. Telyukova

American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, January 2025

Many US households have significant wealth late in life, contrary to the predictions of a simple life-cycle model. By comparison, retirees in Sweden decumulate wealth more quickly while facing smaller out-of-pocket medical expense risks late in life. In t...

AEA Awards Ceremony and Presidential Address

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AEA Awards Ceremony and Presidential Address Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Continental Ballroom 5&6 Presiding: Lawrence Katz, Harvard University Speaker: Janet Currie, Princeton University Topic: Investing in Children to Address the Youth Mental Health Crisis

Evidence and Lessons on the Health Impacts of Public Health Funding from the Fight against HIV/AIDS

By Marcus Dillender

American Economic Review, July 2023

HIV/AIDS has been one of the largest public health crises in recent history, and the US federal government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting the disease. This study examines the impact of the large amounts of federal funding allocated to ...

Mental Health Consequences of Correctional Sentencing

By Manudeep Bhuller, Laura Khoury, and Katrine V. Løken

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, February 2025

Understanding whether and in what situations correctional sentencing improves or exacerbates defendants' mental health conditions is important for the design of criminal justice policies. We combine detailed Norwegian data on visits to health care profess...

Uncharted Waters: Effects of Maritime Emission Regulation

By Jamie Hansen-Lewis and Michelle Marcus

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, February 2025

Maritime shipping emits as much fine particulate matter as half of global road traffic. We are the first to measure the consequences of US maritime emissions standards on air quality, human health, racial exposure disparities, and behavior. The introducti...

The Impact of Provider Payments on Health Care Utilization of Low-Income Individuals: Evidence from Medicare and Medicaid

By Marika Cabral, Colleen Carey, and Sarah Miller

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, February 2025

Provider payments are the key determinant of insurance generosity within many health insurance programs covering low-income populations. This paper analyzes a large, federally mandated provider payment increase for primary care services provided to low-in...

Effective Health Aid: Evidence from Gavi's Vaccine Program

By Gauri Kartini Shastry and Daniel L. Tortorice

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, February 2025

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has provided over US$16 billion in funding for vaccination in low- and middle-income countries since 1999. We exploit differential timing across countries and vaccines to estimate the effects of this public health initiative. We...