The Political Economy of Saving Mothers and Babies: The Politics of State Participation in the Sheppard-Towner Program

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rutgers University System; Rutgers University New Brunswick; University System of Ohio; Miami University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/s0022050711002440
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 75-103
• 关键词: womens suffrage; progressivism; 1920s

摘要

Enacted in 1922 and repealed in 1929, the Sheppard-Towner program gave federal matching money to states to provide public health education to mothers. We examine variation in state participation in the program, and find that the timing of women's suffrage had an important impact. However, we find that the effect of suffrage was short-lived and did not influence public health spending after the program's repeal. We also find no evidence of a demonstration effect. On average, the states that continued activities after Sheppard-Towner ended were those that had sizable public health budgets before the program had even begun.