Journal article
The Effects of Refundable and Nonrefundable State Earned Income Tax Credit Programs on Health of Mothers of Two or More Children
Women's health issues, Vol.31(5), pp.448-454
09/2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.whi.2021.04.004
PMID: 34052090
Abstract
More than one-half of U.S. states have enacted Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) programs. Yet little is known about the effects of state EITC programs on the health of recipients. This study examines the effects of refundable and nonrefundable state EITC programs on the health of single low-educated women of childbearing age with two or more children, the group receiving the highest credits on average.
The data come from the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance Survey from 1993 through 2018. Outcomes include self-rated general health, days not in good physical health, and days not in good mental health, both in the past 30 days. The research design accounts for time-invariant differences between states, national trends shared across states, and other state policies.
Depending on the outcome measure, the analytical sample ranges between 103,362 and 107,782 mothers. Refundable state EITC programs are associated with improvements in all three health outcomes. A 10 percentage-point increase in refundable state EITC is associated with better self-rated health by 0.02 points (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.006–0.04) on a 1- to 5-point scale, or 0.7% improvement above the sample mean; 0.2 fewer days not in good physical health (95% CI, –0.21 to –0.12) in the past 30 days, or 4.4% lower than the sample mean; and 0.2 fewer days not in good mental health (95% CI, –0.29 to –0.1), or 3.4% lower than the sample mean. Estimates for nonrefundable EITC programs are smaller and not statistically significant. As expected, there are small and statistically insignificant refundable EITC effects for single low-educated childless women who receive low state EITC benefits on average.
These findings suggest that an increase in refundable state EITC improves the health of single women of childbearing age with low incomes and two or more children; this factor may also lead to better preconception health. There is no evidence for effects from nonrefundable state EITC.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Effects of Refundable and Nonrefundable State Earned Income Tax Credit Programs on Health of Mothers of Two or More Children
- Creators
- Haobing Qian - Department of Health Management and Policy, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IowaGeorge L Wehby - Department of Health Management and Policy, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Women's health issues, Vol.31(5), pp.448-454
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.whi.2021.04.004
- PMID
- 34052090
- NLM abbreviation
- Womens Health Issues
- ISSN
- 1049-3867
- eISSN
- 1878-4321
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/2021
- Academic Unit
- Preventive and Community Dentistry; Health Management and Policy; Economics; Public Policy Center (Archive)
- Record Identifier
- 9984221637302771
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