Economic Impacts of Caring for Autistic Children in Ontario, Canada: Report from a Pilot Study. Frontiers in Public Health, 13, 2025 (with Graziosi, G., Rodrigues, F. F., Tian, R., Birnbaum, R., & Neil, N)
Abstract
Although research on the economic costs of autism is growing, relatively few studies have examined these costs incurred by families of autistic children in Canada. This study designed and piloted a survey to capture the broader economic impact of caring for autistic children, including direct and indirect costs. It also sought to gather preliminary data to inform a future full-scale survey and enhance understanding of autism’s economic impact in the Canadian context. The pilot survey was developed through a systematic and iterative process involving a literature review, workshops, and focus group discussions. It was then distributed to families with autistic children in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. A mixed-method analysis of survey responses revealed that financial challenges for these families often begin during the diagnostic process and continue with high out-of-pocket medical and therapy costs. Caregivers also face challenges accessing funding and appropriate support services, contributing to indirect costs such as increased living expenses, childcare, education, and training. Caregivers of autistic children in Ontario experience substantial and multifaceted challenges that are compounded by inadequate public support. Understanding the nature and extent of caregiver expenditures can inform more targeted and efficient policy responses in financial, informational, and practical autism-related support.
A Maximum Entropy Bootstrap Approach to Financial Development and Economic Growth in China, Economic Systems, 2024 (with Renfang Tian, Adian McFarlane, and Hui Feng)
Abstract
China's social safety net is still underdeveloped, hence family support in the form of intergenerational transfers often serves as a substitute for the public transfer system. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper finds that both upstream inter-vivos transfers (from children to parents) and downstream inter-vivos transfers (from parents to children) are prevalent in urban China. Moreover, the relative income status of the parent and children has an impact on inter-vivos transfers. To investigate what economic factors generate the observed patterns of inter-vivos transfers, this paper adopts a general equilibrium life-cycle model in which overlapping generations are altruistically linked and calibrates the model to match data from urban China. Counterfactual experiments of removing one source of economic risk or modifying the social security replacement rate from the baseline model at a time reveal that intergenerational transfers mainly serve as informal insurance against the income risk of the children.
Intergenerational Transfers in China: What are the patterns of the transfers and when do the transfers occur? International Studies of Economics, 19 (1), 117-150, March 2024 (Invited Submission for the special issue "Population aging, health care, and the macroeconomy")
Abstract
China's social safety net is still underdeveloped, hence family support in the form of intergenerational transfers often serves as a substitute for the public transfer system. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper finds that both upstream inter-vivos transfers (from children to parents) and downstream inter-vivos transfers (from parents to children) are prevalent in urban China. Moreover, the relative income status of the parent and children has an impact on inter-vivos transfers. To investigate what economic factors generate the observed patterns of inter-vivos transfers, this paper adopts a general equilibrium life-cycle model in which overlapping generations are altruistically linked and calibrates the model to match data from urban China. Counterfactual experiments of removing one source of economic risk or modifying the social security replacement rate from the baseline model at a time reveal that intergenerational transfers mainly serve as informal insurance against the income risk of the children.
The Welfare Effects of Social Insurance Reform in the Presence of Intergenerational Transfers The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, 23(1), Nov 2022.
Abstract
Family support in the form of intergenerational transfers could serve as a substitute for the public transfer system, especially when the public safety net is weak. These intergenerational transfers could be impacted by changes in public insurance. Conversely, induced changes in family transfers could also impact the effectiveness of a public insurance program. What is the impact of social insurance reform on household welfare in the context of intergenerational transfers? This paper investigates this question by using an overlapping generations general equilibrium model where parents and their children are linked by intergenerational transfers. In the model, individuals differ in earnings ability and face idiosyncratic uninsurable income risk, health risk, and mortality risk. This paper calibrates the model to key features in the urban Chinese economy. Using this calibrated model, this paper finds that households on average experience a welfare gain from an increase in the social insurance benefits but that this effect differs across households conditional on their economic status. This paper then provides a decomposition of these welfare changes into three channels: a direct policy channel, an intergenerational-transfers channel, and a general equilibrium channel.
Does Culture Play a Role in the Stock Market's Response to Uncertainty? International Journal of Finance & Economics, 27(2), April 2022.
Abstract
While a growing body of literature documents a decrease in stock returns with an increase in economic uncertainty, the magnitude of this decrease may differ across countries. This paper examines whether a national culture that shapes its people's views towards uncertainty can serve as an explanation if there are heterogeneous responses of the stock market responses to an increase in economic uncertainty at the country level. Using the economic policy uncertainty (EPU) index to proxy for economic uncertainty and employing an SVAR model, this paper first finds that the magnitude of a stock market's response to an increase in uncertainty varies across countries. This paper then adopts the
uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) as a proxy measure of culture relating to people's views towards uncertainty and finds that the observed cross-country heterogeneity is correlated with the degree of a society's uncertainty avoidance. The stock market index is likely to drop more in response to an increase in uncertainty in countries with higher uncertainty avoidance.
Beyond Medical Care and Therapy for Families with Autistic Children (with Felipe Rodrigues, Renfang Tian, Nicole Neil)
Unpacking the Cost of Care: New Insights into Total and Service-specific Out-of-Pocket Medical and Therapy Costs for Autistic Children (with Felipe Rodrigues, Renfang Tian, Nicole Neil, Gemma Graziosi)
Geopolitical Risk, Energy Dependence, and Stock Market Vulnerability: The Role of Energy Structure in Shock Transmission (with Yutao Yin)
Impact of Children's Long-term Health Conditions on Parental Employment
Intergenerational Transfers and Old Age Security
The Life time costs of autism (with Minjoon Lee)
Healthcare Access, Disability Tax Credit Certification, and Claiming Among Children and Youth in Canada: A Linked CHSCY--Tax Data Study (with Jennifer D. Zwicker, Kenneth Fyie, Felipe Rodrigues, Nicole Neil, and Renfang Tian)
Does Geographic Access to ABA Services Matter for Family Costs? Evidence from Ontario (with Nicole Neil, Zixuan Yang)