Peer-Reviewed Published Papers:
The Village Just Got its First Fridge: Durable Goods and Child Health in China, Oxford Economic Papers 2025
Abstract: This paper uses micro-level data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey to determine how ownership of time-saving household appliances impacts children's health. Ownership of these appliances is found to decrease time allocated to household work and increase the incidence of being overweight for children aged 5 to 18. When the sample is partitioned on the basis of gender, these outcomes are more pronounced among males. I instrument household ownership of time-saving appliances by average ownership rate among households with no children living in the same community as ownership of household durable goods is endogenous. With current concerns of rising rates of obesity and overweight in China, understanding some of the causes of these negative health outcomes is a crucial step in fighting childhood obesity.
It Takes a Village: Health and Old-Age Support in China (with Jaqueline Olivera), Review of Economics of the Household 2024
Abstract: How do older individuals cope with health impairments and the potential economic losses that ensue? Exploiting longitudinal data on a nationally representative sample of Chinese seniors, we investigate whether and how familial economic support responds to sudden and sizable changes in health. We find that both financial and instrumental support from children go up following a health shock. Furthermore, financial transfers coming from siblings, other relatives and friends increase by a larger percentage than those from children. We also find evidence that instrumental care received from a spouse responds strongly to health shocks. Finally, we find that although labor supply and earned income drop considerably, there is no significant change in non-health expenditure. Our results suggest that households are able to cope with some of the adverse economic impacts of health shocks by relying on support networks that extend beyond their children and grandchildren. This is particularly relevant in the context of shrinking family sizes resulting from stringent family planning policies.
Abstract: During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, health system disruptions, fear of becoming infected with COVID-19, mobility restrictions and lockdowns, and reduced household incomes likely contributed to households forgoing needed healthcare. The objective of this study was to measure the prevalence of forgone healthcare and how its drivers changed between the early period of the pandemic in 2020 and the first half of 2021.
Navigating the Divide: Inequalities in Household Experiences of Healthcare Disruption in Latin American and the Caribbean Countries Amidst COVID-19 (with Cristian Herrera, Julia Dayton, Paula Bedregal, Dionne Kringos, and Niek Klazinga), International Journal for Equity in Health 2024
Abstract: Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is among the most unequal regions in the world in terms of wealth and household income. Such inequalities have been shown to influence different outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the disruption of routine health services. The aim of this paper is to examine socioeconomic inequalities in household experiences of healthcare disruption in LAC countries from mid-2020 to late 2021.
Healthcare Service Disruption in 14 Latin American and Caribbean Countries During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Household Phone Surveys, 2020-2021 (with Cristian Herrera, Julia Dayton, Jakub Kakietek), Journal of Global Health 2023
Abstract: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19 pandemic) and associated responses have significantly disrupted healthcare. We aimed to estimate the magnitude of and reasons for households reporting healthcare disruption in 14 Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region countries from mid-2020 to mid-2021, and its relationship with country contextual factors.
A Shortage of Brides: China's One Child Policy and Transitions of Men into Marriage, Research in Economics 2023
Abstract: This paper analyzes the selection of surplus men into marriage by means of a model that explicitly accounts for earnings and wealth. Its central focus is the extent to which relatively scarce brides marry men with comparatively strong economic prospects in terms of earnings or wealth. Results of this study, based on data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, provide evidence that marriage in the age of the one child policy is indeed selective of men who are relatively high earners. This result is robust to a series of alternative specifications of the model.
Abstract: We use micro-level data from the India Human Development Survey to test our hypotheses that ownership of time-saving household appliances results in: an increase in employment rates for married women; and an increase in school enrollment rates and decrease in employment rates for children. We address the concern of endogeneity of appliance ownership by instrumenting household ownership of time-saving appliances by two family-specific time-using household assets and (1) average ownership rate among single women living in the same primary sampling unit (for the adult female sample) or (2) average ownership among households with no children living in the same primary sampling unit (for the child sample). Our results suggest a decrease in married women's and children's employment when ownership of time-saving appliances increases. Disaggregating our measure of employment, we find that married women use time-saving appliances as a substitute for human capital and increase their probability of working in more productive employment outside of the household.
Abstract: Does the ownership of time-saving household appliances have a positive impact on children's outcomes? I use micro-level data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey from 1989 through 2011 to infer that ownership of time-saving household appliances results in a decrease in time allocated to household work, increase in school enrollment rates, and decrease in labor force participation rates for children aged 12 to 18. When the sample is partitioned on the basis of gender, these outcomes are more pronounced among females. To deal with endogeneity of household durable goods, I instrument household ownership of time-saving appliances by average ownership rate among households with no children living in the same community and two family-specific time-using household assets. With gender equality and women's empowerment being a top priority among developing countries according to the United Nations, the results presented in this paper suggest one effective way to increase girls' school enrollment is to reduce their household obligations. Time-saving appliances are tools that can provide the requisite decrease in time dedicated to household work.
Abstract: This paper examines how the introduction of female inheritance rights implemented in four Indian states between 1986 and 1994 impacts the educational achievement and labor force participation of children. I investigate time varying state amendments to the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, which provided equal inheritance rights to both male and female children. Using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series for India (IPUMS India), I find that children living in states that implemented reforms experience an increase in the probability of completing primary school and a decrease in the probability of participating in the labor force. Performing a triple difference analysis, I find that these results are larger for Hindu children, specifically Hindu females and Hindu children living in rural areas.