Introduction of Head Start and Maternal Labor Supply: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design

I study the impact of a universal child benefit on fertility and maternal labor supply. I exploit the unanticipated introduction of a sizable child benefit in Spain in 2007. Following a regression discontinuity-type design, I find that the benefit significantly increased fertility, in part through a reduction in abortions. Families who received the benefit did not increase consumption. Instead, eligible mothers stayed out of the labor force longer after childbirth, which led to their children spending less time in formal child care. (JEL I38, J13, J16, J22)

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The Effect of Public Insurance Coverage for Childless Adults on Labor Supply

American Economic Journal Economic Policy ◽

10.1257/pol.20150059 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 124-154 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Laura Dague ◽

Thomas DeLeire ◽

Lindsey Leininger

Keyword(s):

Labor Supply ◽

Regression Discontinuity ◽

Insurance Coverage ◽

Regression Discontinuity Design ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Public Insurance ◽

Difference In Differences ◽

Percentage Points ◽

Percent Decline ◽

Rule Out

This study provides plausibly causal estimates of the effect of public insurance coverage on the employment of non-elderly, nondisabled adults without dependent children (“childless adults”). We take advantage of the sudden imposition of an enrollment cap in Wisconsin, comparing the labor supply of enrollees to eligible applicants placed on a waitlist using a regression discontinuity design and difference-in-differences methods. We find enrollment into public insurance leads to sizable and statistically meaningful reductions in employment, with an estimated effect size of just over 5 percentage points, a 12 percent decline. Confidence intervals rule out positive and large negative effects. (JEL G22, H75, I13, I18, I38, J22)

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Does Head Start Improve Children's Life Chances? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design

The Quarterly Journal of Economics ◽

10.1162/qjec.122.1.159 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 122 (1) ◽

pp. 159-208 ◽

Cited By ~ 390

Author(s):

J. Ludwig ◽

D. L. Miller

Keyword(s):

Head Start ◽

Regression Discontinuity ◽

Regression Discontinuity Design ◽

Life Chances

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Statistical Power for the Comparative Regression Discontinuity Design With a Pretest No-Treatment Control Function: Theory and Evidence From the National Head Start Impact Study

Evaluation Review ◽

10.1177/0193841x18776117 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 71-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Yang Tang ◽

Thomas D. Cook

Keyword(s):

Head Start ◽

Statistical Power ◽

Regression Discontinuity ◽

Control Function ◽

Comparison Function ◽

Regression Discontinuity Design ◽

Impact Study ◽

Treatment Comparison ◽

Randomized Control ◽

High Level

The basic regression discontinuity design (RDD) has less statistical power than a randomized control trial (RCT) with the same sample size. Adding a no-treatment comparison function to the basic RDD creates a comparative RDD (CRD); and when this function comes from the pretest value of the study outcome, a CRD-Pre design results. We use a within-study comparison (WSC) to examine the power of CRD-Pre relative to both basic RDD and RCT. We first build the theoretical foundation for power in CRD-Pre, then derive the relevant variance formulae, and finally compare them to the theoretical RCT variance. We conclude from this theoretical part of this article that (1) CRD-Pre’s power gain depends on the partial correlation between the pretest and posttest measures after conditioning on the assignment variable, (2) CRD-Pre is less responsive than basic RDD to how the assignment variable is distributed and where the cutoff is located, and (3) under a variety of conditions, the efficiency of CRD-Pre is very close to that of the RCT. Data from the National Head Start Impact Study are then used to construct RCT, RDD, and CRD-Pre designs and to compare their power. The empirical results indicate (1) a high level of correspondence between the predicted and obtained power results for RDD and CRD-Pre relative to the RCT, and (2) power levels in CRD-Pre and RCT that are very close. The study is unique among WSCs for its focus on the correspondence between RCT and observational study standard errors rather than means.

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