The Effect of Public Insurance Coverage for Childless Adults on Labor Supply

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dague, Laura; DeLeire, Thomas; Leininger, Lindsey
• 署名单位: Texas A&M University System; Texas A&M University College Station; Georgetown University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Mathematica
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20150059
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 124-154
• 关键词: health-insurance; Welfare participation; self-employment; time spent; medicaid; program; earnings; assistance; receipt; BIAS

摘要

This study provides plausibly causal estimates of the effect of public insurance coverage on the employment of non-elderly, nondisabled adults without dependent children (childlessadults). We take advantage of the sudden imposition of an enrollment cap in Wisconsin, comparing the labor supply of enrollees to eligible applicants placed on a waitlist using a regression discontinuity design and difference-in-differences methods. We find enrollment into public insurance leads to sizable and statistically meaningful reductions in employment, with an estimated effect size of just over 5 percentage points, a 12 percent decline. Confidence intervals rule out positive and large negative effects.