IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp6680.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effects of EITC Payment Expansion on Maternal Smoking

Author

Listed:
  • Averett, Susan L.

    (Lafayette College)

  • Wang, Yang

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Abstract

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the largest anti-poverty program in the U.S. In 1993, the EITC benefit levels were changed significantly based on the number of children in the family such that families with two or more children experienced an exogenous expansion in their incomes. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort, we employ a triple differences plus Fixed-Effects framework to examine the effect of this change on the probability of smoking among low-educated mothers. We find that the probability of smoking for white and Hispanic low-educated mothers of two or more children decreased statistically significantly relative to those with only one child, and the results are robust to various specification tests. These results provide new evidence on the protective effect of income on health through changes in health behaviors, and therefore have important policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Averett, Susan L. & Wang, Yang, 2012. "The Effects of EITC Payment Expansion on Maternal Smoking," IZA Discussion Papers 6680, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6680
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp6680.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hersch, Joni, 2000. "Gender, Income Levels, and the Demand for Cigarettes," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 21(2-3), pages 263-282, November.
    2. Cancian, Maria & Levinson, Arik, 2006. "Labor Supply Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit: Evidence From Wisconsin's Supplemental Benefit for Families With Three Children," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 59(4), pages 781-800, December.
    3. Nada Eissa & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 1996. "Labor Supply Response to the Earned Income Tax Credit," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 605-637.
    4. William N. Evans & Craig L. Garthwaite, 2014. "Giving Mom a Break: The Impact of Higher EITC Payments on Maternal Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 258-290, May.
    5. DeCicca, Philip & Kenkel, Don & Mathios, Alan, 2008. "Cigarette taxes and the transition from youth to adult smoking: Smoking initiation, cessation, and participation," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 904-917, July.
    6. William N. Evans & Jeanne S. Ringel & Diana Stech, 1999. "Tobacco Taxes and Public Policy to Discourage Smoking," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 13, pages 1-56, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Robert A. Moffitt, 2003. "Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number moff03-1, June.
    8. John Mullahy, 1997. "Instrumental-Variable Estimation Of Count Data Models: Applications To Models Of Cigarette Smoking Behavior," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(4), pages 586-593, November.
    9. Mary Beth Walker & Erdal Tekin & Sally Wallace, 2009. "Teen Smoking and Birth Outcomes," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(3), pages 892-907, January.
    10. Baughman, Reagan A., 2005. "Evaluating the Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Health Insurance Coverage," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 58(4), pages 665-684, December.
    11. Wasserman, Jeffrey & Manning, Willard G. & Newhouse, Joseph P. & Winkler, John D., 1991. "The effects of excise taxes and regulations on cigarette smoking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 43-64, May.
    12. Chaloupka, Frank J. & Wechsler, Henry, 1997. "Price, tobacco control policies and smoking among young adults," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 359-373, June.
    13. Reagan Baughman & Stacy Dickert-Conlin, 2009. "The earned income tax credit and fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(3), pages 537-563, July.
    14. Maximilian D. Schmeiser, 2009. "Expanding wallets and waistlines: the impact of family income on the BMI of women and men eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(11), pages 1277-1294, November.
    15. Ellwood, David T., 2000. "The Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Social Policy Reforms on Work, Marriage, and Living Arrangements," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 53(n. 4), pages 1063-1106, December.
    16. Marianne P. Bitler & Jonah B. Gelbach & Hilary W. Hoynes, 2005. "Welfare Reform and Health," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(2).
    17. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Schultz, T Paul, 1983. "Estimating a Household Production Function: Heterogeneity, the Demand for Health Inputs, and Their Effects on Birth Weight," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(5), pages 723-746, October.
    18. Ellwood, David T., 2000. "The Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Social Policy Reforms on Work, Marriage, and Living Arrangements," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 53(4), pages 1063-1106, December.
    19. Cristina Yunzal-Butler & Theodore J. Joyce & Andrew D. Racine, 2009. "Maternal Smoking and the Timing of WIC Enrollment," NBER Working Papers 14728, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Megan M. Reynolds & Patricia A. Homan, 2023. "Income Support Policy Packages and Birth Outcomes in U.S. States: An Ecological Analysis," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(4), pages 1-24, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Susan Averett & Yang Wang, 2013. "The Effects Of Earned Income Tax Credit Payment Expansion On Maternal Smoking," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(11), pages 1344-1359, November.
    2. Averett, Susan L. & Wang, Yang, 2015. "The Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Children's Health, Quality of Home Environment, and Non-Cognitive Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 9173, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Otto Lenhart, 2019. "The effects of income on health: new evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 377-410, June.
    4. Lauren E. Jones & Guangyi Wang & Tansel Yilmazer, 2022. "The long‐term effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit on women's physical and mental health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(6), pages 1067-1102, June.
    5. Hoynes, Hilary & Rothstein, Jesse, 2016. "Tax Policy Toward Low-Income Families," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt87d6v10j, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    6. Simpson, Nicole B., 2013. "Families, Taxes and the Welfare System," IZA Discussion Papers 7369, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Kampon Adireksombat, 2010. "The Effects of the 1993 Earned Income Tax Credit Expansion on the Labor Supply of Unmarried Women," Public Finance Review, , vol. 38(1), pages 11-40, January.
    8. Boyd-Swan, Casey & Herbst, Chris M. & Ifcher, John & Zarghamee, Homa, 2016. "The earned income tax credit, mental health, and happiness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 126(PA), pages 18-38.
    9. Marianne Bitler & Hilary Hoynes & Elira Kuka, 2017. "Do In-Work Tax Credits Serve as a Safety Net?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(2), pages 319-350.
    10. Shirley Peter, 2020. "First-time mothers and the labor market effects of the earned income tax credit," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-53, March.
    11. Hilary Hoynes & Doug Miller & David Simon, 2015. "Income, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Infant Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 172-211, February.
    12. Austin Nichols & Jesse Rothstein, 2015. "The Earned Income Tax Credit," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 1, pages 137-218, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. John Karl Scholz, 2010. "The Earned Income Tax Credit and the U.S. Low-Wage Labor Market," ESRI Discussion paper series 237, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    14. William N. Evans & Craig L. Garthwaite, 2014. "Giving Mom a Break: The Impact of Higher EITC Payments on Maternal Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 258-290, May.
    15. Cowan Benjamin & Tefft Nathan, 2012. "Education, Maternal Smoking, and the Earned Income Tax Credit," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-39, October.
    16. Gunter, Samara, 2013. "State Earned Income Tax Credits and Participation in Regular and Informal Work," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(1), pages 33-62, March.
    17. Donald S. Kenkel & Maximilian D. Schmeiser & Carly Urban, 2014. "Is Smoking Inferior?: Evidence from Variation in the Earned Income Tax Credit," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(4), pages 1094-1120.
    18. Francesco Agostinelli & Emilio Borghesan & Giuseppe Sorrenti, 2020. "Welfare, Workfare and Labor Supply: A Unified Evaluation," Working Papers 2020-083, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    19. Leigh Andrew, 2010. "Who Benefits from the Earned Income Tax Credit? Incidence among Recipients, Coworkers and Firms," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-43, May.
    20. Neumark, David & Shirley, Peter, 2020. "The Long-Run Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Women's Labor Market Outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    low-income mothers; smoking; EITC;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6680. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.