Suchergebnisse

This dissertation consists of three separate papers studying policy relevant questions in labor economics. The goal of these studies is to understand the welfare effects from various government regulation and programs. Chapter 1 investigates how child support income affects household resources for single mothers with at least some college education. I determine that child support income promotes single mother financial independence by reducing welfare participation, decreasing cohabitation rates, and increase labor supply. Chapter 2 examines how a change in minimum nurse staffing regulation affects nurse employment and patient mortality in California nursing homes. My results show that regulation induced increases in nurse staffing cause patient mortality to fall by 4.6%. Chapter 3 determines whether child support enforcement reform coming from the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 has an impact on rates of single motherhood in the United States. I find that child support enforcement reform causes the likelihood of being a single mother to increase among women with 12 or less years of education

We combine quasi-experimental variation in spousal death and age eligibility for survivors benefits using US tax records to study the effects on American households' labor supply and the design of social security's survivors insurance. Benefit eligibility at the exact age of 60 induces sharp reductions in the labor supply of newly widowed households, highlighting the value of survivors benefits and the liquidity they provide following the shock. Among eligible widows, the spousal death event induces no increases in labor supply, suggesting little residual need to self-insure. Using theory, we underscore the program's protective insurance role and its high valuation among survivors. (JEL D12, D91, G22, G51, H55, J16, J22)