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Maternal employment and the health of low-income young children.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Gennetian, LA; Hill, HD; London, AS; Lopoo, LM
Published in: Journal of health economics
May 2010

This study examines whether maternal employment affects the health status of low-income, elementary-school-aged children using instrumental variables estimation and experimental data from a welfare-to-work program implemented in the early 1990s. Maternal report of child health status is predicted as a function of exogenous variation in maternal employment associated with random assignment to the experimental group. IV estimates show a modest adverse effect of maternal employment on children's health. Making use of data from another welfare-to-work program we propose that any adverse effect on child health may be tempered by increased family income and access to public health insurance coverage, findings with direct relevance to a number of current policy discussions. In a secondary analysis using fixed effects techniques on longitudinal survey data collected in 1998 and 2001, we find a comparable adverse effect of maternal employment on child health that supports the external validity of our primary result.

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Published In

Journal of health economics

DOI

EISSN

1879-1646

ISSN

0167-6296

Publication Date

May 2010

Volume

29

Issue

3

Start / End Page

353 / 363

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Time Factors
  • Single Parent
  • Poverty
  • Mothers
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Health Status
  • Health Policy & Services
  • Female
 

Citation

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Gennetian, L. A., Hill, H. D., London, A. S., & Lopoo, L. M. (2010). Maternal employment and the health of low-income young children. Journal of Health Economics, 29(3), 353–363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2010.02.007
Gennetian, Lisa A., Heather D. Hill, Andrew S. London, and Leonard M. Lopoo. “Maternal employment and the health of low-income young children.Journal of Health Economics 29, no. 3 (May 2010): 353–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2010.02.007.
Gennetian LA, Hill HD, London AS, Lopoo LM. Maternal employment and the health of low-income young children. Journal of health economics. 2010 May;29(3):353–63.
Gennetian, Lisa A., et al. “Maternal employment and the health of low-income young children.Journal of Health Economics, vol. 29, no. 3, May 2010, pp. 353–63. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2010.02.007.
Gennetian LA, Hill HD, London AS, Lopoo LM. Maternal employment and the health of low-income young children. Journal of health economics. 2010 May;29(3):353–363.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of health economics

DOI

EISSN

1879-1646

ISSN

0167-6296

Publication Date

May 2010

Volume

29

Issue

3

Start / End Page

353 / 363

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Time Factors
  • Single Parent
  • Poverty
  • Mothers
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Health Status
  • Health Policy & Services
  • Female