Marianne P Bitler
Biographic Data
| ID | 1737513 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Marianne P Bitler |
| GIVEN NAMES | Marianne P |
| FAMILY NAME | Bitler |
| SIGNATURE | BITLER M P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California-Irvine, RAND Corporation, and NBER, Irvine, CA, USA |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 116 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Unanticipated Effects of Electronic Benefits Transfer on WIC Stores and Redemptions
We evaluate the effects of the nationwide transition in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) from paper vouchers to Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards on store decisions to seek authorization to accept WIC benefits. We combine novel administrative data from “The Integrity Profile” (USDA administrative data on stores participating in WIC and their WIC reimbursements) with new nationwide policy data…
The Macroeconomy and Poverty
We revisit a key question about poverty that was a repeated subject of investigation for Rebecca Blank, estimating the effects of the business cycle on pre-tax-and-transfer and post-tax-and-transfer poverty. Using an anchored household-level version of the Supplemental Poverty Measure's thresholds and resources, we show that poverty is countercyclical, rising in recessions and falling in expansions. We also find that the social safety net provide…
The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Poverty
The 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) was a noticeable increase in government support to families with children: it provided more cash, it was not tied to work requirements, and the full amount of the potential benefit was paid by families even if the credit exceeded taxes owed (whereas previously, the maximum amount it could cover was less than the full amount if it exceeded taxes and receipt required earnings). I evaluate its effects…
Can Variation in Subgroups' Average Treatment Effects Explain Treatment Effect Heterogeneity? Evidence from a Social Experiment
We assess whether welfare reform affects earnings only through mean impacts that are constant within but vary across subgroups. This is important because researchers interested in treatment effect heterogeneity typically focus on estimating mean impacts that only vary across subgroups. Using a novel approach to simulating treatment group earnings under the constant mean impacts within subgroup model, we find this model does a poor job of capturin…
Intended and Unintended Effects of the War on Poverty
During the mid-1960s, the United States adopted a series of cash and in-kind transfer programs, as well as human capital investment strategies, as part of the War on Poverty. A number of other programs were first proposed as part of this "war" but were not implemented until the mid-1970s. These programs had noble goals: to increase incomes at the bottom of the income distribution, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition, heath, and human capital. H…
Utilization of Infertility Treatments
Over the last several decades, both delay of childbearing and fertility problems have become increasingly common among women in developed countries. At the same time, technological changes have made many more options available to individuals experiencing fertility problems. However, these technologies are expensive, and only 25% of health insurance plans in the United States cover infertility treatment. As a result of these high costs, legislatio…
Smoking restrictions in bars and bartender smoking in the US, 1992–2007
State clean indoor air laws covering bars appear to reduce smoking among bartenders primarily by changing the composition of the bartender workforce with respect to smoking rather than by reducing smoking among people already employed as bartenders when restrictions are adopted. Such laws may nonetheless be an important public health tool for reducing secondhand smoke
The effect of Medicaid eligibility expansions on fertility
What Mean Impacts Miss
Labor supply theory predicts systematic heterogeneity in the impact of recent welfare reforms on earnings, transfers, and income. Yet most welfare reform research focuses on mean impacts. We investigate the importance of heterogeneity using random-assignment data from Connecticut's Jobs First waiver, which features key elements of post-1996 welfare programs. Estimated quantile treatment effects exhibit the substantial heterogeneity predicted by l…
The changing association between prenatal participation in WIC and birth outcomes in New York City
Does WIC work? The effects of WIC on pregnancy and birth outcomes
Support for WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, is based on the belief that "WIC works." This consensus has lately been questioned by researchers who point out that most WIC research fails to properly control for selection into the program. This paper evaluates the selection problem using rich data from the national Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. We show that relative to Medicaid mothers…
The impact of welfare reform on marriage and divorce
The goal of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was to end needy parents’ dependence on governmental benefits, in part by promoting marriage. The prereform welfare system was widely believed to discourage marriage because it provided benefits primarily to single mothers. However, welfare reform may have actually decreased the incentives to be married by giving women greater financial independence via the progr…
Does WIC work? The effects of WIC on pregnancy and birth outcomes
Support for WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, is based on the belief that "WIC works." This consensus has lately been questioned by researchers who point out that most WIC research fails to properly control for selection into the program. This paper evaluates the selection problem using rich data from the national Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. We show that relative to Medicaid mothers…
The impact of welfare reform on marriage and divorce
The goal of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was to end needy parents’ dependence on governmental benefits, in part by promoting marriage. The prereform welfare system was widely believed to discourage marriage because it provided benefits primarily to single mothers. However, welfare reform may have actually decreased the incentives to be married by giving women greater financial independence via the progr…
The effect of Medicaid eligibility expansions on fertility
Utilization of Infertility Treatments
Over the last several decades, both delay of childbearing and fertility problems have become increasingly common among women in developed countries. At the same time, technological changes have made many more options available to individuals experiencing fertility problems. However, these technologies are expensive, and only 25% of health insurance plans in the United States cover infertility treatment. As a result of these high costs, legislatio…
Intended and Unintended Effects of the War on Poverty
During the mid-1960s, the United States adopted a series of cash and in-kind transfer programs, as well as human capital investment strategies, as part of the War on Poverty. A number of other programs were first proposed as part of this "war" but were not implemented until the mid-1970s. These programs had noble goals: to increase incomes at the bottom of the income distribution, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition, heath, and human capital. H…
The Macroeconomy and Poverty
We revisit a key question about poverty that was a repeated subject of investigation for Rebecca Blank, estimating the effects of the business cycle on pre-tax-and-transfer and post-tax-and-transfer poverty. Using an anchored household-level version of the Supplemental Poverty Measure's thresholds and resources, we show that poverty is countercyclical, rising in recessions and falling in expansions. We also find that the social safety net provide…
The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Poverty
The 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) was a noticeable increase in government support to families with children: it provided more cash, it was not tied to work requirements, and the full amount of the potential benefit was paid by families even if the credit exceeded taxes owed (whereas previously, the maximum amount it could cover was less than the full amount if it exceeded taxes and receipt required earnings). I evaluate its effects…
The changing association between prenatal participation in WIC and birth outcomes in New York City
Does WIC work? The effects of WIC on pregnancy and birth outcomes
Support for WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, is based on the belief that "WIC works." This consensus has lately been questioned by researchers who point out that most WIC research fails to properly control for selection into the program. This paper evaluates the selection problem using rich data from the national Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. We show that relative to Medicaid mothers…
The impact of welfare reform on marriage and divorce
The goal of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was to end needy parents’ dependence on governmental benefits, in part by promoting marriage. The prereform welfare system was widely believed to discourage marriage because it provided benefits primarily to single mothers. However, welfare reform may have actually decreased the incentives to be married by giving women greater financial independence via the progr…
The changing association between prenatal participation in WIC and birth outcomes in New York City
What Mean Impacts Miss
Labor supply theory predicts systematic heterogeneity in the impact of recent welfare reforms on earnings, transfers, and income. Yet most welfare reform research focuses on mean impacts. We investigate the importance of heterogeneity using random-assignment data from Connecticut's Jobs First waiver, which features key elements of post-1996 welfare programs. Estimated quantile treatment effects exhibit the substantial heterogeneity predicted by l…
Smoking restrictions in bars and bartender smoking in the US, 1992–2007
State clean indoor air laws covering bars appear to reduce smoking among bartenders primarily by changing the composition of the bartender workforce with respect to smoking rather than by reducing smoking among people already employed as bartenders when restrictions are adopted. Such laws may nonetheless be an important public health tool for reducing secondhand smoke
The effect of Medicaid eligibility expansions on fertility
Utilization of Infertility Treatments
Over the last several decades, both delay of childbearing and fertility problems have become increasingly common among women in developed countries. At the same time, technological changes have made many more options available to individuals experiencing fertility problems. However, these technologies are expensive, and only 25% of health insurance plans in the United States cover infertility treatment. As a result of these high costs, legislatio…
Intended and Unintended Effects of the War on Poverty
During the mid-1960s, the United States adopted a series of cash and in-kind transfer programs, as well as human capital investment strategies, as part of the War on Poverty. A number of other programs were first proposed as part of this "war" but were not implemented until the mid-1970s. These programs had noble goals: to increase incomes at the bottom of the income distribution, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition, heath, and human capital. H…
Can Variation in Subgroups' Average Treatment Effects Explain Treatment Effect Heterogeneity? Evidence from a Social Experiment
We assess whether welfare reform affects earnings only through mean impacts that are constant within but vary across subgroups. This is important because researchers interested in treatment effect heterogeneity typically focus on estimating mean impacts that only vary across subgroups. Using a novel approach to simulating treatment group earnings under the constant mean impacts within subgroup model, we find this model does a poor job of capturin…
The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Poverty
The 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) was a noticeable increase in government support to families with children: it provided more cash, it was not tied to work requirements, and the full amount of the potential benefit was paid by families even if the credit exceeded taxes owed (whereas previously, the maximum amount it could cover was less than the full amount if it exceeded taxes and receipt required earnings). I evaluate its effects…
The Macroeconomy and Poverty
We revisit a key question about poverty that was a repeated subject of investigation for Rebecca Blank, estimating the effects of the business cycle on pre-tax-and-transfer and post-tax-and-transfer poverty. Using an anchored household-level version of the Supplemental Poverty Measure's thresholds and resources, we show that poverty is countercyclical, rising in recessions and falling in expansions. We also find that the social safety net provide…
Unanticipated Effects of Electronic Benefits Transfer on WIC Stores and Redemptions
We evaluate the effects of the nationwide transition in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) from paper vouchers to Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards on store decisions to seek authorization to accept WIC benefits. We combine novel administrative data from “The Integrity Profile” (USDA administrative data on stores participating in WIC and their WIC reimbursements) with new nationwide policy data…
Economics (9 works) · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics (7 works) · Medicine (6 works) · Economic growth (5 works) · Population (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Business (3 works) · Demographic economics (3 works) · Demography (3 works) · Demography (3 works)