Abstracts Economics

Essays on the Impact of Health and Immigration Policies on Economic Outcomes

by Emily Battaglia

This dissertation consists of three chapters in health and labor economics. A theme throughout these chapters is using empirical analyses to investigate the impact of policies and interventions on labor and health outcomes. Chapter 1 documents how access to maternity care in rural areas impacts maternal and infant health outcomes. In recent years, many hospitals have eliminated maternity care, a low-profit service. I estimate the impact of rural hospital maternity ward closures on birth outcomes in the United States using national Vital Statistics data. On the one hand, increased travel distance following closure can lead to decreased utilization of prenatal care or an increase in out-of-hospital births. On the other hand, women may be exposed to providers with better practices. Rural closures appear to create benefits: I find a large decline in Cesarean births for low-risk women alongside precise null effects for infant outcomes, suggesting closure hospitals were over-performing Cesareans. Chapter 2, co-authored with Faizaan Kisat, investigates the impact of malaria eradication programs on Black-white economic disparities in the early 1900s U.S. South. Malaria eradication was widespread and improved health across races. Yet, only white men experienced economic benefits. Using matched census records, we find that increased exposure to the program was associated with higher schooling attainment and income for whites but not for Blacks. Blacks exposed to malaria eradication were more likely to be farm laborers, and both Blacks and whites were more likely to migrate out of state. Our findings suggest that malaria eradication, a broadly applied intervention, widened racial gaps. Chapter 3 explores the impact of an immigration policy on labor market outcomes for natives. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals granted more than 900,000 temporary work permits to eligible immigrants. I estimate the impact of the policy using ACS data and a continuous difference-in-differences strategy to compare individuals who are more and less exposed to the eligible population. I find that DACA does not depress labor market outcomes for natives, and possibly increases the fraction working. I also find that the policy likely had no impact on ineligible immigrants.