Poverty and Child Development: A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit
Poverty and Child Development: A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit
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DOI：
10.1093/aje/kwv317
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发表时间：
2016-05-01
影响因子：
5
通讯作者：
Rehkopf, David H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hamad, Rita;Rehkopf, David H.
尽管不利的社会经济条件与较差的儿童健康和发展相关，但人们对扶贫政策的影响知之甚少。我们研究了劳动所得税抵免(EITC)与儿童发展的关系，并使用工具变量方法来估计收入的潜在影响。我们使用了1986-2000年间美国全国青年纵向调查(n=8,186)的数据来检验行为问题指数(BPI)和家庭观察环境问卷(HOME)分数的影响。我们进行了2次分析。在第一阶段，我们使用具有儿童水平固定效应的多元线性回归来检验EITC支付金额与BPI和家庭得分之间的关联；在第二阶段，我们使用EITC支付金额作为工具来估计收入与BPI和家庭得分之间的关联。在线性回归模型中，较高的EITC付款与短期BPI评分的改善相关(每1000美元，Beta=-0.57；P=0.04)。在工具变量分析中，较高的收入与短期BPI得分(每1,000美元，β=-0.47；P=0.01)和中期家庭得分(每1,000美元，β=0.64；P=0.02)相关。我们的结果表明，EITC福利和较高的收入都与儿童发展的适度但有意义的改善有关。这些发现为卫生研究人员和政策制定者改善儿童健康和发育提供了有价值的信息。
Although adverse socioeconomic conditions are correlated with worse child health and development, the effects of poverty-alleviation policies are less understood. We examined the associations of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on child development and used an instrumental variable approach to estimate the potential impacts of income. We used data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (n = 8,186) during 1986-2000 to examine effects on the Behavioral Problems Index (BPI) and Home Observation Measurement of the Environment inventory (HOME) scores. We conducted 2 analyses. In the first, we used multivariate linear regressions with child-level fixed effects to examine the association of EITC payment size with BPI and HOME scores; in the second, we used EITC payment size as an instrument to estimate the associations of income with BPI and HOME scores. In linear regression models, higher EITC payments were associated with improved short-term BPI scores (per $1,000, beta = -0.57; P = 0.04). In instrumental variable analyses, higher income was associated with improved short-term BPI scores (per $1,000, beta = -0.47; P = 0.01) and medium-term HOME scores (per $1,000, beta = 0.64; P = 0.02). Our results suggest that both EITC benefits and higher income are associated with modest but meaningful improvements in child development. These findings provide valuable information for health researchers and policymakers for improving child health and development.