The earned income tax credit, mental health, and happiness
The earned income tax credit, mental health, and happiness
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jebo.2015.11.004
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发表时间：
2016-06-01
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Zarghamee, Homa
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Boyd-Swan, Casey;Herbst, Chris M.;Zarghamee, Homa
我们利用全国家庭和住户调查 (NSFH) 研究劳动所得税抵免 (EITC) 对各种主观幸福感 (SWB) 指标的影响，以估计 1990 年综合预算调节法案中嵌入的 EITC 扩张的意向治疗效果。我们使用双重差异框架，将可能符合 EITC（低技能工作年龄母亲）资格的妇女的 SWB 变化与可能不符合资格的对照组（低技能、无子女的工作年龄妇女）的 SWB 变化进行比较。我们的研究结果表明，EITC 的扩展在文献中确定的三个主要类别的主观幸福感方面产生了相当大的主观幸福感改善。 NSFH 是包含 SWB 所有三个主要类别的少数数据集之一。按婚姻状况进行的亚组分析表明，已婚母亲比未婚母亲获得的改善更多。与无子女的母亲相比，已婚母亲的抑郁症状（体验性 SWB）下降了 15.7%，幸福感（评价性 SWB）增加了 4.4%，自尊（幸福性 SWB）增加了 10.1%。我们还提供了规范检查，以增加通过 OBRA90 EITC 扩展解释观察到的 SWB 效应的信心。最后，我们探讨了可以解释 EITC 扩张对婚姻状况的不同影响的机制。 (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. 保留所有权利。
We study the impact of the earned income tax credit (EITC) on various measures of subjective well-being (SWB) using the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to estimate intent-to-treat effects of the EITC expansion embedded in the 1990 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. We use a difference-in-differences framework that compares the pre-and post-expansion SWB-changes of women likely eligible for the EITC (low-skilled mothers of working age) to the SWB-changes of a comparison group that is likely ineligible (low-skilled, childless women of working age). Our results suggest that the EITC expansion generated sizeable SWB-improvements in the three major categories of SWB identified in the literature. The NSFH is one of few datasets containing all three major categories of SWB. Subgroup analyses by marital status suggest that improvements accrued more to married than unmarried mothers. Relative to their childless counterparts, married mothers experienced a 15.7% decrease in depression symptomatology (experiential SWB), a 4.4% increase in happiness (evaluative SWB), and a 10.1% increase in self-esteem (eudemonic SWB). We also present specification checks that increase confidence that the observed SWB-effects are explained by the OBRA90 EITC expansion. Lastly, we explore mechanisms that may explain the differential impact of the EITC expansion by marital status. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.