Christiana Stoddard

Why the Poor Get Fat: Weight Gain and Economic Insecurity

Something about being poor makes people fat. Though there are many possible explanations for the income-body weight gradient, we investigate a promising but little-studied hypothesis: that changes in body weight canat least in partbe explained as an optimal response to economic insecurity. We use data on working-age men from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) to identify the effects of various measures of economic insecurity on weight gain. We find in particular that over the 12-year period between 1988 and 2000, the average man gained about 21 pounds. A one percentage point (0.01) increase in the probability of becoming unemployed causes weight gain over this period to increase by about 0.6 pounds, and each realized 50% drop in annual income results in an increase of about 5 pounds. The mechanism also appears to work in reverse, with health insurance and intrafamily transfers protecting against weight gain.

No-Fault Divorce Laws and the Labor Supply of Women with and without Children.

We use a difference-in-difference-in-difference estimator to compare changes in labor force participation, weeks, and hours of work associated with no-fault divorce laws, allowing for differential responses for married women with and without children. Although other research has found that the labor supply of women in general does not respond to no-fault divorce laws, we find that no-fault divorce laws are associated with increases in the labor supply of married mothers relative to married nonmothers, even after controlling for changes in female labor supply in states without no-fault divorce laws and for property division rules associated with the laws.

Why has the number of teachers per student risen while teacher quality has declined?: The role of changes in the labor market for women

Abstract Since 1970, the number of teachers per student rose while teacher quality apparently eroded. A model of school and voter decisions shows that an increase in the skill price for women may induce schools to hire additional teachers rather than better quality teachers. Estimation results indicate that the price of skill and alternative wage had offsetting effects on the teacher–pupil ratio. Increased demand for education therefore resulted in larger teacher–student ratios. In contrast, both the skill price and the alternative wage reduced teacher quality. Increased demand for education did not outweigh the combined price effect, and teacher quality fell.

Why did Education Become Publicly Funded? Evidence from the Nineteenth-Century Growth of Public Primary Schooling in the United States

Why do voters publicly fund education? I examine two explanations: public funds may be a means for decisive voters to transfer wealth to themselves or voters may subsidize the education of others to raise social education levels and realize external benefits. I test these theories in the 1800s, when full tax support of primary schools emerged. States where median and mean wealth was closer together had higher fractions of education revenue from public sources. Attendance rates rose when the public share of education funding rose, especially for poor children. These facts are consistent with a model with external benefits of education.

LOCAL DEMAND FOR A SCHOOL CHOICE POLICY: EVIDENCE FROM THE WASHINGTON CHARTER SCHOOL REFERENDA

The expansion of charter schools—publicly funded, yet in direct competition with traditional public schools—has emerged as a favored response to poor performance in the education sector. While a large and growing literature has sought to estimate the impact of these schools on student achievement, comparatively little is known about demand for the policy itself. Using election returns from three consecutive referenda on charter schools in Washington State, we weigh the relative importance of school quality, community and school demographics, and partisanship in explaining voter support for greater school choice. We find that low school quality—as measured by standardized tests—is a consistent and modestly strong predictor of support for charters. However, variation in performance between school districts is more predictive of charter support than variation within them. At the local precinct level, school resources, union membership, student heterogeneity, and the Republican vote share are often stronger predictors of charter support than standardized test results.

Why Have For-Profit Colleges Expanded so Rapidly? The Role of Labor Market Changes in Student Enrollment and Degree Completion at Two-Year Colleges

This paper investigates the six-fold increase in student enrollment and three-fold increase in degree completions at for-profit colleges over the last two decades. In particular, we examine the hypothesis that for-profit colleges have more flexibility to respond to market changes, attracting growing shares of students. Using a panel dataset, we examine the effects of local labor market conditions for broad occupation groups on student enrollment and degree completion in related majors. We find that the share of majors at for-profit colleges is related to employment growth and wages in related occupations, but the effects are negligible at community colleges.

The Impact of Maternity Leave Laws on Cesarean Delivery

Abstract Through their influence on insurance and relative leave length, maternity leave laws can alter the incentives to choose cesarean delivery. We use a difference-in-difference approach to estimate the impact of state-level maternity leave laws on cesarean delivery. Empirical results suggest that maternity leave laws guaranteeing relatively short leaves are associated with reduced probability of cesarean delivery. Laws that guarantee continued insurance coverage during the leave are associated with an increase in the probability of cesarean delivery among insured women.