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Applied Microeconomics, Health Economics, Labor Economics

From Lawn Care to Home Care: Undocumented Immigration and Aging in Place (with Youngjoo Jung)

Forthcoming, American Journal of Health Economics

Elderly Americans express a strong desire to stay out of nursing homes as they age (aging in place). Undocumented immigrants play an important role in supporting the elderly who live at home. This paper estimates the effect of changes in undocumented immigration on aging in place. Identification comes from a two-stage least squares research design using the staggered rollout of the Secure Communities (SC) program between 2008 and 2013 that increased the threat of deportation for undocumented immigrants. For communities with a high level of undocumented immigrants, the change in the undocumented labor supply caused by the SC program decreases aging in place by 0.42%. As a general trend, for every 10% decrease in the undocumented labor supply, the percentage of elderly natives aging in place decreases by 0.12%.

Keywords: Caregiving, aging, disability, disabled, elderly, immigrant labor 

JEL Classification: I11, J14, J61

Immigrant Labor Force and Living Arrangements of Elderly Natives [SSRN] (with Jason Huh and Kwanghyun Kim)

The elderly overwhelmingly desire to age in place rather than in a nursing home, and the workforce supporting aging in place has a relatively high share of low-skilled immigrants. This paper examines the impact of low-skilled immigration on elderly living arrangements using individual-level data from the 1980–2000 U.S. Censuses. Exploiting the tendency of new immigrants to migrate to existing settlements of immigrants from the same birthplace, we use a two-stage least squares strategy to identify the causal effect of immigration on the living arrangements of elderly natives. We find that a one percentage point increase in low-skilled immigration increases the probability that an elderly native will age in place by 0.04 percentage points and the probability of aging in place with assistance from someone other than a spouse by 0.30 percentage points. This implies that immigration not only induces the elderly to age in place but also shifts those aging in place without support to aging in place with support. Consistent with a migration-induced cost reduction in aging in place, an increase in low-skilled immigration also reduces the wages of all low-skilled workers in private households that support aging in place, both in absolute terms and relative to the wages of all low-skilled workers in nursing homes. 

Keywords: Aging in place, home- and community-based services (HCBS), caregiving, aging, elderly, immigration

JEL Classification: I11, J14, J61

Awards: Second Prize, 2022 International Health Economics Association Annual Student Paper Prize

Presentations: IHEA World Congress on Health Economics, South Africa, July 2023; ASSA Annual Meeting (Poster), Online, January 2022; APPAM Student Summer Seminar Series, Online, May 2021; MEA Annual Meeting, Online, March 2021

Analyzing the Werther Effect: The Impact of Celebrity Suicide on Suicides

Suicide is a major public health concern in the United States. One potential risk factor for suicide is a highly-publicized suicide, leading to what is called the Werther effect, or the increase in suicides following such a suicide. While the original literature found marginal evidence for a Werther effect, using more detailed data, I find that the Werther effect does not hold across multiple celebrity suicides between 1973 and 1988. 

The Effects of Family Life: A Study of Marital Instability, Activity, and Educational Outcomes [Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research]

Marital disruptions, such as divorced parents or absent fathers, are associated with lower educational attainment for the children of these families. The present study examines how youth volunteerism and employment mitigate the effect of these marital disruptions. The hypothesis is that youth volunteerism and employment increase the likelihood that these youths will graduate from high school or obtain a GED by the typical time of high school graduation, at around age 19. The primary outcome measure was the completion of a high school diploma or GED by age 19 or 20. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and accompanying Child/Young Adult (CYA) supplements, the estimated effects of youth volunteerism and employment on the probability of obtaining a high school diploma or GED by the age of 19 or 20 among those who ever obtain their high school diploma or GED, as compared to the base group of a nuclear family with the child neither volunteering nor employed, are 3.05 percentage points (p = 0.008) and 2.49 percentage points (p = 0.064), respectively, with employment having a (negative) differential effect for children who end up with a GED (–15.31 percentage points total, p < 0.1). There were no other significant interaction terms, indicating that volunteering is beneficial in its own right. These findings indicate that volunteer activities should be studied and utilized as a means to improve the outcomes of children of non-nuclear families.

Keywords: Divorce, employment, family, household factors, marital disruptions, marriage, self-fulfillment, volunteerism, youth, work

Stata, Latex

American Economic Association (AEA), American Society of Health Economics (ASHEcon), Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM), International Health Economics Association (iHEA), Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization (CREDO), Society of Catholic Social Scientists (SCSS), The Association of Christian Economists (ACE) 

English (Native), Lithuanian (Fluent), Spanish (Beginner), Italian (Beginner)

USA

Accordion, Piano, Organ, Clarinet, Ukulele