US Health Care Expenditures, GDP and Health Policy Reforms: Evidence from End-of-Sample Structural Break Tests.

This research investigates the over-time stability of the aggregate US healthcare expenditure (HCE)-GDP relationship, focusing on periods of healthcare reforms. The most consequential reforms-Medicaid/Medicare and the Affordable Care Act (ACA)-are challenging to study because they occur near the ends of the available data. Using annual national- and state-level data and a battery of structural break tests, we find the HCE-GDP relationship to be overwhelmingly stable.

The effect of tobacco policies on youth physical activity.

Our research examines the effects of tobacco policies on teenagers' physical activity. Smoking and physical activity are both strategies for weight management, and exercise may be a way to reduce some of the ill effects of smoking. These different links suggest that cigarette taxes could either increase or decrease physical activity.

Sunshine, fertility and racial disparities.

This research investigates the effect of sun exposure on fertility, with a special focus on how its effects and consequences for birth outcomes may differ by race. Sun exposure is a key mechanism for obtaining Vitamin D, but this process is inhibited by skin pigmentation. Vitamin D has been linked to male and female fertility and risk of miscarriage, and Vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent among blacks than whites.

Cigarette Taxes, Smoking-and Exercise?

This research provides the first in-depth analysis of the effect that increased cigarette taxes have on exercise behavior. Smoking may diminish the ability to exercise; individuals may also use exercise to compensate for the harmful health effects of smoking or to avoid gaining weight if they cut back. Our conceptual model highlights these and several other avenues for effect and reveals that the predicted effect of cigarette costs on exercise behavior is theoretically ambiguous.

How Has Elderly Migration Changed in the Twenty-First Century? What the Data Can-and Cannot-Tell Us.

Interstate elderly migration has strong implications for state tax policies and health care systems, yet little is known about how it has changed in the twenty-first century. Its relative rarity requires a large data set with which to construct reliable measures, and the replacement of the U.S.

"Going with the flow"--a comparison of interstate elderly migration during 1970-2000 using the (I)PUMS versus full census data.

Objectives: We investigate how much state-to-state elderly migration patterns have changed during 1970-2000 and compare the findings from 2 commonly used sources of data, the census flow tabulations and the integrated public use microdata series (IPUMS).

Methods: We calculate descriptive statistics such as migration rates, the distribution of top destination and origin states, and a new migration Herfindahl-Hirschman Index that measures geographic concentration. Comparisons over time and between data sources are formalized using correlations and regression analyses that permit persistent flow patterns.

Maternal health: does prenatal care make a difference?

This research attempts to close an important gap in health economics regarding the efficacy of prenatal care and policies designed to improve access to that care, such as Medicaid. We argue that a key beneficiary-- the mother-- has been left completely out of the analysis. If prenatal care significantly improves the health of the mother, then concluding that prenatal care is 'ineffective' or that the Medicaid expansions are a 'failure' is premature.

Is prenatal care really ineffective? Or, is the 'devil' in the distribution?

Prenatal care should improve infant health, yet research frequently finds only weak effects. If there are two kinds of pregnancies, 'complicated' and 'normal' ones, then combining these pregnancies may lead prenatal care to appear ineffective. Data from the National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (NMIHS) offers compelling evidence.