This short paper estimates the state and local fiscal benefits of the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program. NFP provides nurse home visiting services to low-income first-time mothers. In addition to social benefits, NFP provides state and local fiscal benefits by reducing costs of social services, welfare, and crime, and increasing tax receipts due to increased earnings of mothers and former ...

This paper uses the rollout of the first Community Health Centers (CHCs) to study the longer-term health effects of increasing access to primary care. Within ten years, CHCs are associated with a reduction in age-adjusted mortality rates of 2 percent among those 50 and older. The implied 7 to 13 percent decrease in one-year mortality risk among beneficiaries amounts to 20 to 40 percent of the 1...

We study a 2004 program designed to motivate Chinese bureaucrats to reduce accidental deaths. Each province received a set of `death ceilings' that, if exceeded, would impede government o cials' promotions. For each category of accidental deaths, we observe a sharp discontinuity in reported deaths at the ceiling, suggestive of manipulation. Provinces with safety incentives for municipal o cials...

Rent extraction by public sector workers may be limited by the ability of taxpayers to vote with their feet. But rent extraction may be higher in regions where high amenities mute the migration response. This paper develops a theoretical model that predicts such a link between public sector wage differentials and local amenities, and the predictions are tested by analyzing variation in these di...

We use detailed data from a large retail panel to study the effect of participation in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on composition and nutrient content foods purchased for at-home consumption. find that SNAP is small relative cross-sectional variation most outcomes we consider. Estimates model relating household’s food purchases current level spending imply closing gap betwe...

Compensation of most US public school teachers is rigid and solely based on seniority. This paper studies the effects a reform that gave districts in Wisconsin full autonomy to redesign teacher pay schemes. Following some switched flexible compensation. Using expiration preexisting collective bargaining agreements as source exogenous variation timing changes pay, I show introduction raised sala...

How do governors’ reelection motives affect policy experimentation? We develop a theoretical model of this situation, and then test the predictions in data on US state-level welfare reforms from 1978 to 2007. This period marked most dramatic shift social since New Deal. Our findings indicate that governors with strong electoral support are less likely experiment than little support. Yet, who ca...

This paper estimates the long-term impact of growing up in better neighborhoods and attending schools on educational attainment. First, I use a spatial regression-discontinuity design to estimate school effects. Second, study students who move across Montreal during childhood causal effect area (total exposure effects). find large effects for both dimensions. Combining research designs decompos...

Using geographic variation in local and state smoke-free bar laws in the US, we observe an increase in fatal accidents involving alcohol following bans on smoking in bars that is not observed in places without bans. Although an increased accident risk might seem surprising at first, two strands of literature on consumer behavior suggest potential explanations — smokers driving longer distances ...

Many safety net programs issue benefits as monthly lump-sum payments. We investigate how the timing of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit issuance affects food purchases and incidence transfer. Using scanner data from a large sample grocery stores state time variation in SNAP schedules, we document large, SNAP-induced intramonth cycles expenditures. However, find that reta...