Baby bump? Birth month, family income, and early childhood development.

Federal and state laws in the U.S. provide families with babies born just before the end of the year with thousands of dollars in tax savings.

An analysis of the accuracy of retrospective birth location recall using sibling data.

Many surveys ask participants to retrospectively record their location of birth. This paper examines the accuracy of such data in the UK Biobank using a sample of full siblings. Comparison of reported birth locations for siblings with different age gaps allows us to estimate the probabilities of household moves and of misreported birth locations.

Deaths during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from regional patterns in Germany and Poland.

Background: Given the nature of the spread of SARS-CoV-2, strong regional patterns in the fatal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic related to local characteristics such as population and health care infrastructures were to be expected. In this paper we conduct a detailed examination of the spatial correlation of deaths in the first year of the pandemic in two neighbouring countries - Germany and Poland, which, among high income countries, seem particularly different in terms of the death toll associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis aims to yield evidence that spatial patterns of mortality can provide important clues as to the reasons behind significant differences in the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in these two countries.

Home Alone: Widows' Well-Being and Time.

Unlabelled: Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, 2004-17) and time diaries from Poland (2013), the U.S. (2006-16), the U.

Does affirmative action reduce disparities in healthcare use by Indigenous peoples? Evidence from Australia's Indigenous Practice Incentives Program.

Globally, Indigenous populations experience poorer health but use less primary healthcare than their non-Indigenous counterparts. In 2010, the Australian government introduced a targeted reform aimed at reducing these disparities. The reform reduced, or abolished prescription medicine co-payments and provided financial incentives for GPs to better manage chronic disease care for Indigenous peoples.

The intergenerational persistence of opioid dependence: Evidence from administrative data.

To address the opioid crisis, it is crucial to understand its origins. We provide descriptive evidence for the intergenerational persistence of opioid dependence. Our analysis is based on administrative data covering the universe of Austrian births from 1984 to 1990.

The ripple effects of funding on researchers and output.

Using unique, new, matched UMETRICS data on people employed on research projects and Author-ity data on biomedical publications, this paper shows that National Institutes of Health funding stimulates research by supporting the teams that conduct it. While faculty-both principal investigators (PIs) and other faculty-and their productivity are heavily affected by funding, so are trainees and staff. The largest effects of funding on research output are ripple effects on publications that do not include PIs.

Have girls been left behind during the COVID-19 pandemic? Gender differences in pandemic effects on children's mental wellbeing.

Using data from the UK, we show that girls have been affected more than boys by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of their mental wellbeing. These gender differences are more pronounced in lower-income families. Our results are consistent with previous findings of larger pandemic effects on mental health of women.

Prenatal air pollution exposure and neonatal health.

Air pollution has been shown to have adverse effects on many health outcomes including respiratory effects, cardiovascular effects, and mortality. However, evidence on the effects of prenatal exposure is still limited. We investigate the causal impact of prenatal exposure to air pollution on neonatal health in Italy in the 2000s.

Minimum legal drinking age and the social gradient in binge drinking.

Low minimum legal drinking ages (MLDAs), as prevalent in many European countries, are severely understudied. We use rich survey and administrative data to estimate the impact of the Austrian MLDA of 16 on teenage drinking behavior and morbidity. Regression discontinuity estimates show that legal access to alcohol increases the frequency and intensity of drinking, which results in more hospital admissions due to alcohol intoxication.

Sex workers' self-reported physical and mental health in Greece. A repeated cross-sectional study in 2009, 2013 and 2019.

In Greece, given the precarious nature of the sex work industry, sex workers health and wellbeing is of concern. However, relevant research remains limited. This study examined whether sex workers' self-reported physical and mental health deteriorated across time points during the economic recession in Athens, Greece.

Physical pain, gender, and the state of the economy in 146 nations.

Rationale: Physical pain is one of the most severe of human experiences. It is thus one of the most important to understand.

Objective: This paper reports the first cross-country study of the links between physical pain and the state of the economy.

Adverse working conditions and immigrants' physical health and depression outcomes: a longitudinal study in Greece.

Purpose: Τhe study examines whether adverse working conditions for immigrants in Greece bear an association with deteriorated physical health and increased levels of depression during 2018 and 2019.

Methods: A panel dataset resulted from the collaboration with centers providing free Greek language courses to immigrant population groups. Random Effects models assess the determinants of physical health and depression.

The impact of repeated mass antigen testing for COVID-19 on the prevalence of the disease.

In the absence of effective vaccination, mass testing and quarantining of positive cases and their contacts could help to mitigate pandemics and allow economies to stay open. We investigate the effects of repeated mass testing on the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, using data from the first ever nationwide rapid antigen testing implemented in Slovakia in autumn 2020. After the first round of testing, only districts above an ex ante unknown threshold of test positivity were re-tested.

Cross-country connectedness in inflation and unemployment: measurement and macroeconomic consequences.

Unlabelled: We bring the notion of connectedness (Diebold and Yilmaz, Int J Forecast 28(1):57-66 2012) to a set of two critical macroeconomic variables as inflation and unemployment. We focus on the G7 economies plus Spain, and use monthly data-high-frequency data in a macro setting-to explore the extent and consequences of total and directional volatility spillovers across variables and countries. We find that total connectedness is larger for prices (58.

Warming from tropical deforestation reduces worker productivity in rural communities.

The accelerating loss of tropical forests in the 21st century has eliminated cooling services provided by trees in low latitude countries. Cooling services can protect rural communities and outdoor workers with little adaptive capacity from adverse heat exposure, which is expected to increase with climate change. Yet little is still known about whether cooling services can mitigate negative impacts of heat on labor productivity among rural outdoor workers.

The effects of traditional cigarette and e-cigarette tax rates on adult tobacco product use.

We study the effects of traditional cigarette and e-cigarette taxes on use of these products among adults in the United States. Data are drawn from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and National Health Interview Survey over the period 2011 to 2018. Using two-way fixed effects models, we find evidence that higher traditional cigarette tax rates reduce adult traditional cigarette use and increase adult e-cigarette use.

Do expansions in adolescent access to public insurance affect the decisions of substance use disorder treatment providers?

We apply a mixed-payer economy model to study the effects of changes in the generosity of children's public health insurance programs - measured by Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program income thresholds - on substance use disorder (SUD) treatment provider behavior. Using government data on specialty SUD treatment providers over the period 1997-2011 combined with a two-way fixed-effects model and local event study, we show that increases in the generosity of children's public health insurance induce providers to participate in some, but not all, public markets. Our effects appear to be driven by non-profit and government providers.

Birth order, parental health investment, and health in childhood.

We analyze the relationship between birth order, parental health investment and children's health using administrative data from Austria. We show that later-born children have better health endowments at birth. They are less likely born preterm or with a low birth weight, and less likely hospitalized for perinatal conditions.

The patent buyout price for human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and the ratio of R&D costs to the patent value.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for almost all of the 570,000 new cases of cervical cancer and approximately 311,000 deaths per year. HPV vaccination is an integral component of the World Health Organization's (WHO) global strategy to fight the disease. However, high vaccine prices enforced through patent protection are limiting vaccine expansion, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Insurance expansions and adolescent use of substance use disorder treatment.

Objective: To provide evidence on the effects of expansions to private and public insurance programs on adolescent specialty substance use disorder (SUD) treatment use.

Data Source/study Setting: The Treatment Episodes Data Set (TEDS), 1996 to 2017.

Study Design: A quasi-experimental difference-in-differences design using observational data.

Employment and earnings trajectories before and after sickness absence due to major depressive disorder: a nationwide case-control study.

Objectives: To examine employment and earnings trajectories before and after the first sickness absence period due to major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: All individuals (n=158 813) in Finland who had a first sickness absence period (lasting longer than 9 days) due to MDD between 2005 and 2015 were matched with one randomly selected individual of the same age and gender with no history of MDD. Employment status and earnings were measured using register-based data annually from 2005 to 2015.

Forecasting and planning during a pandemic: COVID-19 growth rates, supply chain disruptions, and governmental decisions.

Policymakers during COVID-19 operate in uncharted territory and must make tough decisions. Operational Research - the ubiquitous 'science of better' - plays a vital role in supporting this decision-making process. To that end, using data from the USA, India, UK, Germany, and Singapore up to mid-April 2020, we provide predictive analytics tools for forecasting and planning during a pandemic.