eldreddyl / distinction

This repository holds data, code, and documentation related to my distinction research for ECN 495/ECN 496

Project

• The Effect of Mandated Health Benefits on Insurance Accessibility for Workers in Risky Occupations

Distinction

• This repository holds data, code, and documentation related to my distinction research for ECN 495/496
• ECN 495/496 is a 2-semester research seminar where students complete an independent capstone project

distinction's Issues

Data Sources: Healthcare Access, Insurance Coverage, Health Behaviors

Main data sources I considered:

• BRFSS : Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey
• IPUMS : Integrated Public Use Microdata Series
  • MEPS : Medical Expenditure Panel Survey
  • NHIS : National Health Interview Survey
• NHANES : National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Literature Review: Health Care Access

Below is a list of relevant papers pertaining to:

• Mandated health insurance benefits
• Effects of coverage on labor force participation
• Effects of benefits on wages, hours worked, etc

Summary Statistics

Summary Statistics

• My original regression model was not producing significant results, so I'm taking a step back and am going to attempt to find patterns in the sample.
• At different thresholds of occupational risk (25th, 50th, 75th, 90th percentiles) compare means of insurance coverage, union membership, income, marriage

Ideally table will look like:

Variable	25th Percentile	50th Percentile	....
Included in Emp Health Plan	X.X	X.X	...
% Union Membership	Y.Y	Y.Y	....

DDD Model: Effect of Mandated Benefits on Coverage Rates and Wages

Baseline Model

• The goal of this project is to analyze the effect of mandated health benefits on labor market outcomes
• Topic is influenced by Simon (2001) and Gruber (1994)
  • Simon (2001) looks at the effects of Small Group Health Insurance on coverage rates
    • In the early 1990s, millions of Americans were uninsured. Workers in small firms (<25 workers) were disproportionally less likely to have health insurance through their employer
    • Simon believes this is due to industry redlining - where insurance providers deny access to coverage to certain industries that they deem "high risk"
    • Statewide insurance reform dropped several barriers to coverage
    • Despite increased access, Simon found that coverage rates actually decreased
    • She theorizes this is due to adverse selection - due to asymmetric information, high risk individuals drive out the low risk individuals
  • Gruber (1994) explores the effect of mandatory benefits on wages
    • Theory predicts that offering benefits, such as health insurance, is associated with a decrease in wage so long as the workers value that benefit more than its cost to the firm
    • Gruber took an easily identifiable group, women of childbearing age, and analyzed the effects of mandatory maternity benefits on their wages
    • Using a DDD model, he identifies women ages 20 to 40 as the treatment group. He then compares the mean wages between the control group (men, women with ages > 40 ) before and after the reform
    • Gruber found that mandating maternity benefits was associated with a decrease in wage for the control group

The goal of my model is to:

1. Run a regression to estimate the effect of mandated benefits on coverage rates for workers in risky occupations*

   • Simon's paper found that broad coverage rates decreased
   • In line with Gruber's paper, I'm expecting coverage rates to increase for the subgroup of risky workers

2. If coverage rates among the subgroup increases, analyze the extent to which those workers value the benefits by estimating the effect on wages

• Based on Gruber's findings, I expect wages to decrease

*risky occupations is defined in the model as working a job whose fatality rate is above the median.

Update Repo

Updating Repo

Over the next two weeks, I'm hoping to include:

• All papers referenced in this project
• Data sources
• Current Stata code/.do files

Literature Review: DDD Estimator

• Include relevant papers on current methodology for DDD estimation
• Eventually have summaries for Baker, Gruber, Olden, Woolridge

Literature Review: Quantitative Research on Healthcare Access and Utilization

Below is a list of relevant papers, methods, and data sources relating to health insurance, healthcare access, and utilization