Robert Kaestner
Biographic Data
| ID | 96198 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert Kaestner |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert |
| FAMILY NAME | Kaestner |
| SIGNATURE | KAESTNER R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Illinois Chicago |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5196-8690 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 64 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 455 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 64 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Ban-the-box laws: Fair and effective
Wealth at birth and its effect on child academic achievement and behavioral problems
Headstrong Girls and Dependent Boys: Gender Differences in the Labor Market Returns to Child Behavior
The authors use data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (C-NLSY79) to examine gender differences in the associations between child behavioral problems and early adult earnings. They find large and significant earnings penalties for women who exhibited more headstrong behavior and for men who exhibited more dependent behavior as children. By contrast, the authors observe no penalties for men who were headstrong or for w…
Education and health over the life cycle
A Cautionary Tale of Evaluating Identifying Assumptions: Did Reality TV Really Cause a Decline in Teenage Childbearing
Evaluating policy changes that occur everywhere at the same time is difficult because of the lack of a clear counterfactual. Hoping to address this problem, researchers often proxy for differential exposure using some observed characteristic in the pretreatment period. As a cautionary tale of how difficult identification is in such settings, we re-examine the results of an influential paper by Melissa Kearney and Phillip Levine, who found that th…
Distance to an Abortion Provider and Its Association with the Abortion Rate: A Multistate Longitudinal Analysis
Distance to a provider may present a barrier to abortion by preventing access to care. Therefore, policies that increase travel distances have potential for harm
The role of the built environment, food prices and neighborhood poverty in fruit and vegetable consumption: An instrumental variable analysis of the moving to opportunity experiment
The ACA Medicaid Expansion in Michigan and Financial Health
This article examines how the financial health changes following an individual's enrollment in Michigan's Medicaid program (Healthy Michigan Program, HMP). We use unique data that link credit reports of HMP enrollees to Medicaid administrative data on enrollment and use of healthcare services. We find that Medicaid enrollment is associated with large improvements in several measures of financial health, including reductions in unpaid bills, medic…
Built environment exposures of adults in the moving to opportunity experiment
This paper describes environmental exposures of adult participants in the Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing (MTO) experiment over a four to seven year period from baseline to the interim evaluation. The MTO experiment randomized participants living in public housing or private assisted housing at baseline into experimental and control groups and provided a housing voucher for experimental group participants to move to neighborhoods with less…
The Impact of Parental Involvement Laws on the Abortion Rate of Minors
In this article, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of the effect of parental involvement (PI) laws on the incidence of abortions to minors in the United States. We contribute to the extant literature in several ways. First, we explore differences in estimates of the effect of PI laws across time that may result from changes in contraception, the composition of pregnant minors, abortion access in nearby states, and differences in how these laws …
Effects of the Minimum Wage on Infant Health
The minimum wage has increased in multiple states over the past three decades and it continues to be a controversial policy. Most prior research has examined the effect of the minimum wage on employment and wages. In this study, we examine the impact of the state minimum wage on infant health. Using data on the universe of births in the U.S. over 24 years, we find that an increase in the minimum wage is associated with a small, but statistically …
Childhood Medicaid Coverage and Later-Life Health Care Utilization
Exploiting a discontinuity in childhood Medicaid eligibility based on date of birth, we find that more years of childhood eligibility are associated with fewer hospitalizations in adulthood. For blacks, we find a 7% to 15% decrease in hospitalizations and a suggestive 2% to 5% decrease in emergency department visits, but no similar effect for nonblacks. The effects are pronounced for utilization related to chronic illnesses and for patients livin…
The geography of family differences and intergenerational mobility
A recent series of studies by the Equality of Opportunity Project has documented substantial geographical differences in intergenerational income mobility. These spatial differences are important because they suggest that place matters more than previously thought in determining economic well-being. In this article, we show that family characteristics vary widely across areas and simulations indicate that differences in these family characteristi…
Does public insurance coverage for pregnant women affect prenatal health behaviors
Impact of Medication Adherence on Health Services Utilization in Medicaid
OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of adherence to chronic disease medications on health services utilization among Medicaid enrollees. SUBJECTS: Eligibility, claims, and encounter data from the Medicaid Analytic Extract files from 10 states (Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia) were used to construct a 3-year (2008-2010), longitudinal dataset of Medicaid recipients 18-64 yea…
The Effect of Smoking on Mental Health
Our estimates suggest that smoking causes poor mental health and its effects are concentrated for measures that indicate more severe problems. Public health policies that aim to reduce smoking also may reduce poor mental health
Effects of ACA Medicaid Expansions on Health Insurance Coverage and Labor Supply: Effects of ACA Medicaid Expansions
We examined the effect of the expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act on health insurance coverage and labor supply of low-educated and low-income adults. We found that the Medicaid expansions were associated with large increases in Medicaid coverage, for example, 50 percent among childless adults, and corresponding decreases in the proportion uninsured. There was relatively little change in private insurance coverage, alt…
Health Insurance and Income Inequality
Health insurance and other in-kind forms of compensation and government benefits are typically not included in measures of income and analyses of inequality. This omission is important. Given the large and growing cost of health care in the United States and the presence of large government health insurance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, it is crucial to understand how health insurance and related public policies contribute to measured e…
Are Foreign-Trained Nurses Perfect Substitutes for U.S.-Trained Nurses
The authors investigate whether foreign- and U.S.-trained nurses are substitutes by studying the differences in their wages and whether wage differentials respond to relative supplies of foreign- and U.S.-trained nurses. Regression estimates suggest that foreign-trained nurses without a bachelor’s degree enjoy a wage premium of 1 to 3% over similar U.S.-trained nurses after adjusting for demographic, workplace, work type, and geographic differenc…
Self-Selection and International Migration: New Evidence from Mexico
This paper examines the selection of Mexican migrants to the United States using novel data with rich premigration characteristics that include permanent migrants, return migrants, and migrating households. Results indicate that Mexican migrants are more likely to be young, male, and from rural areas compared to nonmigrants, but they are similar to nonmigrants in cognitive ability and health. Migrants are selected from the middle of the education…
Spatial mobility and environmental effects on obesity
An assessment of the validity of the Ecers-R with implications for measures of child care quality and relations to child development
The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) is widely used to associate child care quality with child development, but its validity for this purpose is not well established. We examined the validity of the ECERS-R using the multidimensional Rasch partial credit model (PCM), factor analyses, and regression analyses with data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort. The PCM identified rating category disordering,…
Does Child-Care Quality Mediate Associations Between Type of Care and Development
Studies document that, on average, children cared for in centers, as compared to homes, have higher cognitive test scores but worse socioemotional and health outcomes. The authors assessed whether the quality of care received explains these associations. They considered multiple domains of child development-cognitive, socioemotional, and health-and examined whether mediation is greater when quality measures are better aligned with outcome domains…
Youth employment and substance use
New evidence on the validity of the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scale: Results from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort
The effect of pregnancy intention on child development
In this paper, we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to investigate the empirical link between unintended pregnancy and child health and development. An important contribution of our study is the use of information on siblings to control for unmeasured factors that may confound estimates of the effect of pregnancy intentions on infant and child outcomes. Results from our study indicate that unwanted pregnancy is associated wi…
An assessment of the validity of the Ecers-R with implications for measures of child care quality and relations to child development
The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) is widely used to associate child care quality with child development, but its validity for this purpose is not well established. We examined the validity of the ECERS-R using the multidimensional Rasch partial credit model (PCM), factor analyses, and regression analyses with data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort. The PCM identified rating category disordering,…
On the validity of retrospective assessments of pregnancy intention
Information on pregnancy intention is often gathered retrospectively (after the birth of a child). This article investigates whether the retrospective assessment of pregnancy intention leads to biased estimates of the extent or consequences of unintended fertility. Comparisons are made between pregnancy intentions ascertained during pregnancy and after birth using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. After correction for selective…
Effects of ACA Medicaid Expansions on Health Insurance Coverage and Labor Supply: Effects of ACA Medicaid Expansions
We examined the effect of the expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act on health insurance coverage and labor supply of low-educated and low-income adults. We found that the Medicaid expansions were associated with large increases in Medicaid coverage, for example, 50 percent among childless adults, and corresponding decreases in the proportion uninsured. There was relatively little change in private insurance coverage, alt…
Stress, Allostatic Load, and Health of Mexican Immigrants
Objective. To assess whether the cumulative impact of exposure to repeated or chronic stressors, as measured by allostatic load, contributes to the “unhealthy assimilation” effects often observed for immigrants with time in the United States. Methods. We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994, to estimate multivariate logistic regression models of the odds of having a high allostatic load score among Me…
Consequences for Infants of Parental Disagreement in Pregnancy Intention
Information on both parents' fertility intentions is needed to identify infants at risk of adverse health and developmental outcomes
From Welfare to Work: Has Welfare Reform Worked
This paper discusses estimates of the effect of welfare reform,as measured by the imposition of time limits and family cap provisions, on the employment and fertility of less educated unmarried women. This analysis shows that welfare reform has induced less educated unmarried women to move from welfare to work in significant numbers. The imposition of time limits and other administrative reforms correlated with it have increased the employment of…
Has welfare reform changed teenage behaviors
Data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979 and 1997 cohorts were used to compare welfare use, fertility, educational attainment, and marriage among teenage women in the years before and immediately following welfare reform. The first objective was to document differences between these cohorts in welfare use and outcomes and behavior correlated with entry into welfare and with future economic and social well‐being. The second object…
Child Care and Work Absences: Trade-Offs by Type of Care
Parents face a trade-off in the effect of child-care problems on employment. Whereas large settings may increase problems because of child illness, small group care may relate to provider unavailability. Analyzing the NICHD Study of Early Child Care, we find that child-care centers and large family day care lead to mothers' greater work absences because of a sick child, but not to maternal job exits. Greater work absences because of unavailabilit…
Family cap provisions and changes in births and abortions
The effects of child health on marital status and family structure
The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on the effect of child health on marital stability and family structure in an economic framework. We use the 1988 National Health Interview Survey’s Child Health Supplement, with a sample of about 9,000 families, to test whether having an unhealthy child decreases the mother’s chance of being married and whether it increases her chance of living in an extended family. Using two different measures o…
Immigrant and native responses to welfare reform
The Impact of Mandatory Waiting Periods and Parental Consent Laws on the Timing of Abortion and State of Occurrence among Adolescents in Mississippi and South Carolina
Individual data on induced abortions from Mississippi and South Carolina are used to examine the effect of parental consent laws and mandatory delay statutes on two outcomes among teens: the point in pregnancy at which the abortion occurs and whether teens obtain abortions in or outside their state of residence. No effect of either law was found on the timing and location of abortion among minors relative to older teens in South Carolina. In Miss…
Effects of the Minimum Wage on Infant Health
The minimum wage has increased in multiple states over the past three decades and it continues to be a controversial policy. Most prior research has examined the effect of the minimum wage on employment and wages. In this study, we examine the impact of the state minimum wage on infant health. Using data on the universe of births in the U.S. over 24 years, we find that an increase in the minimum wage is associated with a small, but statistically …
The Child and Adult Care Food Program and the nutrition of preschoolers
Does Child-Care Quality Mediate Associations Between Type of Care and Development
Studies document that, on average, children cared for in centers, as compared to homes, have higher cognitive test scores but worse socioemotional and health outcomes. The authors assessed whether the quality of care received explains these associations. They considered multiple domains of child development-cognitive, socioemotional, and health-and examined whether mediation is greater when quality measures are better aligned with outcome domains…
The effects of maternal employment on child injuries and infectious disease
This article presents estimates of effects of maternal paid work and nonmaternal child care on injuries and infectious disease for children aged 12 to 36 months. Mother-child fixed-effects estimates are obtained by using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Estimates indicate that maternal employment itself has no statistically significant adverse effects on the incidence of infectious disease and injury. However, greater time spent by …
Changes in the welfare caseload and the health of low-educated mothers
Declines in the welfare caseload in the late 1990s brought significant change to the lives of many low-educated, single mothers. Many single mothers left welfare and entered the labor market and others found different ways to avoid going on public assistance. These changes may have affected the health and health behaviors of these women. To date, there has been little study of this issue. In this paper, we obtained estimates of the association be…
The Child and Adult Care Food Program: Who Is Served and Why
This article focuses on an understudied food subsidy program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), examining whether it reaches low-income children and whether children who receive CACFP differ from those who do not receive it. Data come from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, which provides a representative sample of preschoolers and their providers. This study finds that CACFP eligibility rules exclude many low-inco…
New Estimates of the Effect of Marijuana and Cocaine Use on Wages
Using the 1984 and 1988 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study provides an update of several previous cross-sectional estimates of the effect of illicit drug use on wages, as well as the first longitudinal estimates of that effect. The cross-sectional results, which are generally consistent with the surprising findings of previous research, suggest that illicit drug use has a large, positive effect on wages. The longitudin…
The ACA Medicaid Expansion in Michigan and Financial Health
This article examines how the financial health changes following an individual's enrollment in Michigan's Medicaid program (Healthy Michigan Program, HMP). We use unique data that link credit reports of HMP enrollees to Medicaid administrative data on enrollment and use of healthcare services. We find that Medicaid enrollment is associated with large improvements in several measures of financial health, including reductions in unpaid bills, medic…
Medicaid eligibility and the incidence of ambulatory care sensitive hospitalizations for children
The Effect of Government-Mandated Benefits on Youth Employment
The author empirically examines the effect on youth employment of government-mandated employer-provided benefits. In particular, he investigates the effect of unemployment compensation insurance taxes and workers' compensation insurance mandates on the employment of youths (aged 16-19) and young adults (aged 20-24 and 25-34). An analysis of time series state aggregate data for the years 1982-89 indicates that a one percentage point increase in th…
Distance to an Abortion Provider and Its Association with the Abortion Rate: A Multistate Longitudinal Analysis
Distance to a provider may present a barrier to abortion by preventing access to care. Therefore, policies that increase travel distances have potential for harm
The effect of expansions in medicaid income eligibility on abortion
In this paper we examine the effect of expansions in Medicaid income eligibility on abortion, using individual-level data from South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The results suggest that for unmarried nonblack women with less than a high school degree, expansions of income eligibility lowered the probability of abortion by two to five percentage points. Most of the impact of the Medicaid expansions on abortion occurred in the first round of…
The effects of child health on marital status and family structure
The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on the effect of child health on marital stability and family structure in an economic framework. We use the 1988 National Health Interview Survey’s Child Health Supplement, with a sample of about 9,000 families, to test whether having an unhealthy child decreases the mother’s chance of being married and whether it increases her chance of living in an extended family. Using two different measures o…
Income Inequality as an Indicator of Discrimination in Housing Markets
In this article we develop an alternative empirical method for identifying discrimination in the housing market, and test it using 1980 census data for the city of Philadelphia and four counties that are in close proximity to Philadelphia. A variety of models are estimated, and the results of the analysis appear to support the view that discrimination was an important factor in both the central city county of Philadelphia, and the suburban counti…
New Estimates of the Effect of Marijuana and Cocaine Use on Wages
Using the 1984 and 1988 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study provides an update of several previous cross-sectional estimates of the effect of illicit drug use on wages, as well as the first longitudinal estimates of that effect. The cross-sectional results, which are generally consistent with the surprising findings of previous research, suggest that illicit drug use has a large, positive effect on wages. The longitudin…
The effect of expansions in medicaid income eligibility on abortion
In this paper we examine the effect of expansions in Medicaid income eligibility on abortion, using individual-level data from South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The results suggest that for unmarried nonblack women with less than a high school degree, expansions of income eligibility lowered the probability of abortion by two to five percentage points. Most of the impact of the Medicaid expansions on abortion occurred in the first round of…
The Effect of Government-Mandated Benefits on Youth Employment
The author empirically examines the effect on youth employment of government-mandated employer-provided benefits. In particular, he investigates the effect of unemployment compensation insurance taxes and workers' compensation insurance mandates on the employment of youths (aged 16-19) and young adults (aged 20-24 and 25-34). An analysis of time series state aggregate data for the years 1982-89 indicates that a one percentage point increase in th…
The Effects of Cocaine and Marijuana Use on Marriage and Marital Stability
This article examines the relationship between illicit drug use and marital status. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experiences, the article presents both cross-sectional and longitudinal estimates of the effect of marijuana and cocaine use on marital status, the length of time until first marriage, and the duration of first marriage. The results indicate that among non-Black young adults, drug users are more like…
Drug use and AFDC participation: Is there a connection
Drug use and welfare are two serious social problems that have received widespread public attention. Recently, it has been suggested that illicit drug use is a major cause of welfare, although there is only anecdotal evidence to support such a claim. This article provides the first systematic analysis of the issue by examining the relationship between illicit drug use and welfare participation among a nationally representative sample of young adu…
The Stability of Pregnancy Intentions and Pregnancy-Related Maternal Behaviors
The effect of pregnancy intention on child development
In this paper, we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to investigate the empirical link between unintended pregnancy and child health and development. An important contribution of our study is the use of information on siblings to control for unmeasured factors that may confound estimates of the effect of pregnancy intentions on infant and child outcomes. Results from our study indicate that unwanted pregnancy is associated wi…
Did Recent Expansions in Medicaid Narrow Socioeconomic Differences in Hospitalization Rates of Infants
OBJECTIVE: To test whether socioeconomic differences in the ratio of infant hospitalizations to births, a proxy for infant hospitalization rates, and hospital lengths of stay for infants narrowed between 1988 and 1992: a period of large increases in the numbers of low-income infants enrolled in Medicaid. RESEARCH DESIGN: Before and after comparison of socioeconomic differences in the ratio of infant hospitalizations to births (ie, infant hospital…
From Welfare to Work: Has Welfare Reform Worked
The Impact of Mandatory Waiting Periods and Parental Consent Laws on the Timing of Abortion and State of Occurrence among Adolescents in Mississippi and South Carolina
Individual data on induced abortions from Mississippi and South Carolina are used to examine the effect of parental consent laws and mandatory delay statutes on two outcomes among teens: the point in pregnancy at which the abortion occurs and whether teens obtain abortions in or outside their state of residence. No effect of either law was found on the timing and location of abortion among minors relative to older teens in South Carolina. In Miss…
From Welfare to Work: Has Welfare Reform Worked
This paper discusses estimates of the effect of welfare reform,as measured by the imposition of time limits and family cap provisions, on the employment and fertility of less educated unmarried women. This analysis shows that welfare reform has induced less educated unmarried women to move from welfare to work in significant numbers. The imposition of time limits and other administrative reforms correlated with it have increased the employment of…
Welfare Reform and the Perinatal Health and Health Care Use of Latino Women in California, New York City, and Texas
Objectives. This study analyzed changes in the financing of prenatal care and delivery, the use of prenatal care, and birth outcomes among foreign-born vs US-born Latino women following enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in August 1996. Methods. We used a pre–post design with a comparison group. The sample consisted of resident Latinas in California, New York City, and Texas who delivered a l…
Medicaid eligibility and the incidence of ambulatory care sensitive hospitalizations for children
On the Validity of Retrospective Assessments of Pregnancy Intention
Information on pregnancy intention is often gathered retrospectively (after the birth of a child). This article investigates whether the retrospective assessment of pregnancy intention leads to biased estimates of the extent or consequences of unintended fertility. Comparisons are made between pregnancy intentions ascertained during pregnancy and after birth using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. After correction for selective…
Consequences for Infants of Parental Disagreement in Pregnancy Intention
Information on both parents' fertility intentions is needed to identify infants at risk of adverse health and developmental outcomes
Joyce Et Al. Respond
We appreciate the comments by Seils et al. As we stated in our article, we agree that relatively few foreign-born Latinas lost eligibility for publicly financed prenatal care under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). However, there was substantial fear and confusion in immigrant communities as to the ramifications of PRWORA. Governor Wilson of California was explicit about his desire to cut off public fun…
On the validity of retrospective assessments of pregnancy intention
Information on pregnancy intention is often gathered retrospectively (after the birth of a child). This article investigates whether the retrospective assessment of pregnancy intention leads to biased estimates of the extent or consequences of unintended fertility. Comparisons are made between pregnancy intentions ascertained during pregnancy and after birth using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. After correction for selective…
Labor Market Consequences of State Health Insurance Regulation
This study, based mainly on the 1989-98 March Current Population surveys, finds that state-mandated health insurance benefits and small-group health insurance reform had no statistically significant effects on labor market outcomes such as the quantity of work, wages, and whether an employee worked for a small or large firm. The number and type of state-mandated health insurance benefits were unrelated to weeks of work, wages, and the prevalence …
Has welfare reform changed teenage behaviors
Data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979 and 1997 cohorts were used to compare welfare use, fertility, educational attainment, and marriage among teenage women in the years before and immediately following welfare reform. The first objective was to document differences between these cohorts in welfare use and outcomes and behavior correlated with entry into welfare and with future economic and social well‐being. The second object…
Migration consequences of welfare reform
Alcohol abuse and suicide attempts among youth
Family cap provisions and changes in births and abortions
Do Minimum Wages Affect Non-Wage Job Attributes? Evidence on Fringe Benefits
Although many studies have tested neoclassical labor market theory's prediction that employers will react to binding minimum wages by reducing employment levels, much less empirical research has explored the possibility that employers also respond to minimum wages by adjusting non-wage components of the job, such as fringe benefits, job safety, and access to training. Using Current Population Survey data for 1979-2000, this study investigates the…
Medicine (40 works) · Economics (39 works) · Demographic economics (31 works) · Psychology (28 works) · Demography (27 works) · Environmental health (25 works) · Population (25 works) · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics (20 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Demography (18 works)