Recent Research
Working Papers
"Impact of Electronic Benefit Transfer in the WIC Program on Vendors and Participants: Evidence from Administrative Data on Vendor Authorizations and Benefit Redemptions," with Charlotte Ambrozek, Tim Beatty, Xinzhe Cheng, and Mattew Rabbitt. 2024. Email for most recent version.
"Effects of Expanding Unemployment Insurance on Well-Being: Responses to COVID-19," with Elisa Alonso Herrero, Danea Horn, and Arian Seifoddini. 2024. Email for most recent version.
"The Macroeconomy and Poverty," with Hilary Hoynes and Elira Kuka. 2024. Email for most recent version.
"The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Poverty." 2024. Email for most recent version.
"Long Run Effects of Food Assistance: Evidence from the Food Stamp Program,'' with Ted Figinski. 2020. Email for most recent version.
"Do Food Assistance Programs Affect Retailers?'' with Tim Beatty and Cynthia van der Werf Cuadros, 2020. Email for most recent version. Link to summary.
“Marriage Markets and Family Formation: The Role of the Vietnam Draft,” with Lucie Schmidt. October 2019. Email for most recent version.
“New Evidence on the Effects of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program,” with Christopher Carpenter, August 2019. NBER WP 26140. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26140
“Experimental Evidence on Distributional Effects of Head Start,” with Hilary Hoynes and Thurston Domina. March 2016, March 2016 version.
“Effects of Increased Access to Infertility Treatment on Infant and Child Health: Evidence from Health Insurance Mandates.” 2008. Most recent version, Appendices.
Recent peer-reviewed articles and chapters
"New Evidence on The WIC Cycle: What Happens When Benefits Expire," with Jason Cook, Seojung Oh, and Paige Rowberry. Forthcoming, National Tax Journal. Online access: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/728678
"Estimating the Health Impacts of WIC: A Regression Discontinuity Approach,'' with Janet Currie, Hilary Hoynes, Lisa Schulkind, and Barton Willage. 2023. Journal of Health Economics, 91. Working paper version: NBER WP 30112 Online open access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2023.102784
"Suffering, the Safety Net and Disparities during COVID-19," with Hilary Hoynes and Diane Schanzenbach. May 2023. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 9(3): 32-59. Online access: https://www.rsfjournal.org/content/rsfjss/9/3/32.full.pdf
"Incomplete Program Take-Up during a Crisis: Evidence from the COVID-19 Shock in One U.S. State," with Jason Cook, Danea Horn, and Nathan Seegert. 2022. International Tax and Public Finance, 9: 1373-1394. Last pre-publication version: Link Online access: Link
"Effects of the Colorectal Cancer Control Program," with Christopher Carpenter and Danea Horn. 2021. Health Economics 30(11): 2667-2685. Published version
"Means-Tested Safety Net Programs and Hispanic Families: Evidence from Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC," with Lisa A. Gennetian, Christina Gibson-Davis, and Marcos A. Rangel. 2021. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 696(1): 274-305. Published version
"Teacher Effects on Student Achievement and Height: A Cautionary Tale," with Sean Corcoran, Thurston Domina, and Emily Penner. March 2021. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 14(4): 900-924. Online access: Link Last pre-publication version: Link , Previous pre-publication version: NBER working paper 26480: https://www.nber.org/papers/w26480 and Annenberg EdWorkingPaper http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai19-172
"Working for Your Bread: The Labor Supply Effects of SNAP," with Jason Cook and Jonathan Rothbaum. 2021. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 111(5): 496-500. Last pre-publication version: Link. Final version: www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20211094
"The Social Safety Net in the Wake of COVID-19," with Hilary Hoynes and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2021. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Last pre-publication version: https://www.nber.org/papers/w27796
"Cyclicality of the U.S. Safety Net: Evidence from the 2000s and Implications for the COVID-19 Crisis," with Hilary Hoynes and John Iselin. 2020. National Tax Journal 73(3). 759-780. http://www.ntanet.org/NTJ/73/3/ntj-v73n03p759-780-Cyclicality-of-the-US-Safety-Net-COVID-19-Crisis.html
"SNAP and the Pay Cycle," joint with Tim Beatty, Xinzhe Cheng, and Cynthia van der Werf. 2019. Southern Economic Journal 86(1), 18-48. Published version: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/soej.12345.
"Health Impacts of Food Assistance: Evidence from the United States," joint with Arian Seifoddini. 2019. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 11, 261-287. www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-resource-100518-093823
“Boosting School Readiness: Should Preschool Teachers Target Skills or the Whole Child?” with Jade Marcus Jenkins (first author), Greg Duncan, Anamarie Auger, Thurston Domina, and Margaret Burchinal. 2019. Economics of Education Review 65, 107-125. Accepted version: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775717302509.
“Cash for Kids,” with Annie Laurie Hines and Marianne Page. 2018. Russell Sage Journal for the Social Sciences, 4(2), 42-73. Published version: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.7758/rsf.2018.4.2.03.pdf
“Can Variation in Subgroups’ Average Treatment Effects Explain Treatment Effect Heterogeneity? Evidence from a Social Experiment,” with Jonah Gelbach and Hilary Hoynes. 2017. Review of Economics and Statistics, 99(4), 683-697. Final pre-publication version. Appendix Figures. Replication. Published version: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00662
"The EITC and the Social Safety Net in the Great Recession." NYU Tax Law Review, 70, 533-543.
"The Impact of Welfare Reform on the Health Insurance Coverage, Utilization, and Health of Low Education SIngle Mothers," with Kimberly Narain (first author), Ninez Ponce, Gerald Kominsky, and Susan Ettner. 2017, Social Science & Medicine, 180, 28-35. At Science: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617301673.
“Child Poverty and the Great Recession in the United States,” with Hilary Hoynes and Elira Kuka. 2017. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 36(2), 358-389. Final pre-publication version.
“Medicaid,” with Madeline Zavodny. Edward Elgar Handbook in Law and Economics, Federalism Volume. Jonathan Klick, ed. 2017. Final pre-publication version NBER WP 20169.
“Effects of State Cervical Cancer Insurance Mandates on Pap Test Rates,” with Christopher Carpenter. 2017. Health Services Research 52(1), 156-175. Final pre-publication version.
“Do In-Work Tax Credits Serve as a Safety Net?” with Hilary Hoynes and Elira Kuka. 2017, Journal of Human Resources 52(2), 319-350. Final pre-publication version.
“Health Insurance Mandates, Mammography, and Breast Cancer Diagnoses” with Christopher Carpenter. 2016. American Economic Journal-Economic Policy, 8(3), 2016, 39-68. Final pre-publication version. Online appendix.
“The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same? The Safety Net and Poverty in the Great Recession,” with Hilary Hoynes. 2016. Journal of Labor Economics 34(S1), S403-S444. Final pre-publication version.