Essays in the Impact of Early Life Access to Public Programs

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Hwang, Grace Hye-eun
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2019
Subjects:	Economics
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1555492577200624

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu15554925772006242021-08-03T07:10:29Z Essays in the Impact of Early Life Access to Public Programs Hwang, Grace Hye-eun Economics In these essays, I study the effects of prenatal or early life access to public programs on subsequent health outcomes, employing quasi-experimental research settings derived from several exogenous changes in public policies: (1) the Unborn Child Option of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), (2) the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009, and (3) the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program.In the first chapter, I examine the causal effects of in utero public health insurance on child health beyond birth outcomes. The implementation of the Unborn Child Option (UCO) as part of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides a unique opportunity to isolate the causal effects of in utero public health insurance on child health beyond birth outcomes. The UCO allowed previously ineligible pregnant noncitizens to obtain public health insurance for prenatal care. Regardless of the reform, U.S.-born children of these women receive birthright citizenship and become eligible for public health insurance if their household income is low enough. Thus, the only thing changed by the reform is access to in utero public health insurance, holding post-birth coverage constant. Using state-level variation in whether and when the UCO was adopted, I find that the reform caused improvement in children's health and development. Interestingly, it only appears from preschooler ages while no improvement is shown at earlier periods. I accordingly provide suggestive evidence on one possible mechanism: the improved maternal mental health during pregnancy.In the second chapter, I study the effects of public health insurance in the prenatal period on health outcomes in early childhood. The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) new option eliminated the five-year waiting period for Medicaid and CHIP eligibility that had been imposed on pregnant noncitizens since the 1996 welfare reform. The results show that CHIPRA new option caused an improvement in children's health. Children who were eligible in utero have a 13% better parent-reported health status compared to those who were not. Additional analysis shows that this improvement was due to the take-up of CHIPRA new option.In the third chapter, we study how an early life nutrition program affects health and economic outcomes in adulthood. The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is intended to improve the nutritional well-being of low-income pregnant and post-partum women, infants, and children, by giving food vouchers for specific items with key nutrients. We utilize variation across counties in the date of implementation of the WIC program to identify the impact of the program on later life health and economic outcomes. Using geocoded data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find that early life exposure to the WIC program caused a lower incidence of high blood pressure and asthma in adulthood, while no clear improvement is shown in economic outcomes. 2019-09-04 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1555492577200624 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1555492577200624 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Economics
spellingShingle	Economics Hwang, Grace Hye-eun Essays in the Impact of Early Life Access to Public Programs
author	Hwang, Grace Hye-eun
author_facet	Hwang, Grace Hye-eun
author_sort	Hwang, Grace Hye-eun
title	Essays in the Impact of Early Life Access to Public Programs
title_short	Essays in the Impact of Early Life Access to Public Programs
title_full	Essays in the Impact of Early Life Access to Public Programs
title_fullStr	Essays in the Impact of Early Life Access to Public Programs
title_full_unstemmed	Essays in the Impact of Early Life Access to Public Programs
title_sort	essays in the impact of early life access to public programs
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2019
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1555492577200624
work_keys_str_mv	AT hwanggracehyeeun essaysintheimpactofearlylifeaccesstopublicprograms
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Essays in the Impact of Early Life Access to Public Programs

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