Multigenerational Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net: Early Life Exposure to Medicaid and the Next Generation's Health

Chloe N. East, Sarah Miller, Marianne Page and Laura Wherry

American Economic Review, 2023, vol. 113, issue 1, 98-135

Abstract: We examine multigenerational impacts of positive in utero health interventions using a new research design that exploits sharp increases in prenatal Medicaid eligibility that occurred in some states. Our analyses are based on US Vital Statistics natality files, which enables linkages between individuals' early life Medicaid exposure and the next generation's health at birth. We find evidence that the health benefits associated with treated generations' early life program exposure extend to later offspring. Our results suggest that the returns on early life health investments may be substantively underestimated.

JEL-codes: I12 I13 I18 I38 J13 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Working Paper: Multi-generational Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net: Early Life Exposure to Medicaid and the Next Generation’s Health (2017)
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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20210937

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