Contemporary Economic Policy最新文献

The prescription-privileges movement has advocated for state laws enabling trained psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medication. We examine the impact of these laws on healthcare access and outcomes. Using staggered difference-in-differences analysis and Data Axle data, we estimate the number of new mental health establishments per 100,000 people after policy implementation. Using CDC data, we analyze the policy's impact on suicide rates. We find the policy increased the number of psychology and counseling practices without decreasing the number of psychiatric practices, implying that these practices are complements rather than substitutes. Quality held steady, with no notable change in the suicide rate.

Investing in athletics is one approach that universities have taken to better appeal to potential students. We analyze whether football success, as measured by win percentage, is correlated with a higher number of student applicants. We find that for schools in the major “Power-Five” conferences, win percentage does not significantly change the number of students who apply. However, in the smaller “Group-of-Five” conferences, win percentage is associated with an increase in the number of applications. This is a particularly relevant finding because smaller universities may often be the ones struggling to maintain the size of their student body.

Using multiple measures of income inequality and political party alternation for US states we examine panel data from 1971 to 2015 to test whether income inequality affects party alternation for governors. We test various measures of party alternation at the state level. The evidence suggests that income inequality increases party alternation and has a nonlinear relationship with gubernatorial-party alternation. Income inequality backlash is more evident for Republicans and favors Democrats when inequality is high, with the opposite being true. Results vary with the choice of inequality and party alternation measures, which suggests income inequality for states should be further examined.

We document a positive relationship between culturally inherited beliefs about gender equity and female smoking, using data on first and second-generation immigrants living in the United States. We find that a one standard deviation increase in our measure of gender equity is associated with an increase in the probability that a female immigrant smokes of approximately 1.4 and 1.8 percentage points or 23% and 20% for first and second-generation immigrants respectively. As male smoking behavior is largely unaffected by gender equality, we find that gender equity tends to reduce the size of the gender gap in smoking.

This paper studies the effect of large changes in Medicaid reimbursement rates on the quantity of care supplied to Medicare beneficiaries. In 2015, the payment parity provision of the Affordable Care Act ended, causing widespread decreases in reimbursements to primary care providers for Medicaid services. Difference-in-differences and triple-differences model estimates show that decreasing physician payments for Medicaid caused a small increase in the number of services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. I explore the mechanisms driving this result, giving context and insight into some current puzzles regarding the effects of the ACA's Medicaid expansion.

We provide new approaches to examining the returns to college majors and institutional selectivity. Using unique resume data, we devise new groupings of majors and use these to construct five measures that characterize majors. Applying these measures to the National Survey of College Graduates, we find that majors that lead to jobs that are math-intensive or writing-intensive have higher earnings and also a higher return to selectivity. Majors that are occupationally specific also have higher earnings but have a lower return to institutional selectivity. We find that the value of selectivity relative to major increases as selectivity rises.

This study examines the effects of joining the European Monetary Union (EMU) using propensity score matching to address self-selection bias. Findings indicate that EMU membership leads to reduced volatility in inflation, output growth, and bond yields. However, it also reveals fiscal deterioration in member states during the pre-financial crisis period, even excluding Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. These countries experienced favorable bond market conditions pre-crisis. The study underscores varying EMU effectiveness across different periods and countries, emphasizing the importance for policymakers to consider these variations when adopting EMU strategies.

We expand on the economic research about regime types, culture, institutions, and economic freedom, with the development of a unique measure of regime memory and examine the generational effect of past regimes on a country's level of economic freedom. Using a panel of 144 countries between 1970 and 2015 we follow the literature and argue that institutions can be fast and slow-moving. We find evidence that regime memory promotes improvements in (discourages) economic freedom for countries that are historically democratic (autocratic).

The 2007 Military Lending Act attempted to ban high-interest loans to U.S. military members and the 2017 “Final Rule” further restricted access, causing regional shocks in payday lending exposure in counties with a military base. Difference-in-differences and dynamic estimators provide mixed evidence on the effect of this payday lending access shock on regional economic outcomes and local business outcomes. However, we consistently find statistically significant reduced entry and exit of firms. Given payday lenders congregate around low-income and minoritized populations analogously to how they congregated around military bases, these results provide policy implications for more general usury bans.

One mechanism by which teachers might affect student learning is through the grading standards they set for their classrooms. However, the effects of grading standards on student outcomes are understudied. Using administrative data that links individual students and teachers in Algebra I classrooms from 2006 to 2016, we examine the effects of teachers' grading standards on student learning and attendance. High teacher grading standards increase both contemporaneous student achievement in Algebra I and performance in subsequent math classes. Heterogeneity analyses find that these impacts are positive and similar in size for students of different backgrounds, aptitudes, and school contexts.