Daniel Kuehnle

The causal effect of family income on child health in the UK

Recent studies examining the effect of family income on child health have been unable to account for the endogeneity of income. Using data from a British cohort study, we address this gap by exploiting exogenous variation in local labour market characteristics to instrument for family income. We estimate the causal effect of family income on different measures of child health and explore the role of potential transmission mechanisms. We find that income has a very small but significant causal effect on subjective child health and no significant effect on chronic health conditions, apart from respiratory illnesses. Using the panel structure, we show that the timing of income does not matter for young children. Moreover, our results provide further evidence that parental health does not drive a spurious relationship between family income and child health. Our study implies that financial transfers are unlikely to deliver substantial improvements in child health.

The Effects of Smoking Bans on Self-Assessed Health: Evidence from Germany

The 16 German federal states introduced smoking bans on different dates during 2007 and 2008. These bans restricted smoking in enclosed public places, particularly in restaurants and bars. This study examines the effects of smoking bans on self-assessed health. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), difference-in-differences estimations provide evidence for health improvements for the population at large. Health benefits from the secondhand smoke-free environment are equivalent to an increase in household income of approximately 30%. Further subgroup analyses show that health improvements are largest among young non-smokers (below 30 years) whereas smokers report no or even adverse health effects in response to bans. Exploiting differences in the dates of introduction and enforcement, we find no evidence that the effects of bans depend on enforcement measures.

Bounding the causal effect of unemployment on mental health: Nonparametric evidence from four countries

An important, yet unsettled, question in public health policy is the extent to which unemployment causally impacts mental health. The recent literature yields varying findings, which are likely due to differences in data, methods, samples, and institutional settings. Taking a more general approach, we provide comparable evidence for four countries with different institutional settings-Australia, Germany, the UK, and the United States-using a nonparametric bounds analysis. Relying on fairly weak and partially testable assumptions, our paper shows that unemployment has a significant negative effect on mental health in all countries. Our results rule out effects larger than a quarter of a standard deviation for Germany and half a standard deviation for the Anglo-Saxon countries. The effect is significant for both men and women and materialises already for short periods of unemployment. Public policy should hence focus on early prevention of mental health problems among the unemployed.

The Causal Effect of Family Income on Child Health: A Re-Examination Using an Instrumental Variables Approach

Despite a recent growth in studies examining the association between family income and child health, very few studies investigate whether this is a causal relationship. This paper addresses this major methodological gap and examines the causal effect of family income on child health in the UK. Using rich observational data from a British cohort study, we exploit exogenous variation in local labour market characteristics to instrument for family income. We estimate the effect of family income on subjective child health and control for potential transmission channels through which income could affect child health. The results from our models provide novel evidence that income has a small but significant causal effect on subjective child health. Moreover, the analysis shows that parental health does not drive a spurious relationship between family income and child health as argued in recent contributions. We do not find significant effects of family income on chronic indicators of child health. The results are robust to different sets of instrumental variables, and to alternative measures of income.

A Man's Blessing or a Woman's Curse? The Family Earnings Gap of Doctors

We examine the size and determinants of the family earnings gap for Australian general practitioners (GPs). Female GPs with children earn more than

One Man's Blessing, Another Woman's Curse? Family Factors and the Gender-Earnings Gap of Doctors

30,000 less than comparable female GPs without children, while male GPs with children earn more than

Paid Parental Leave and Child Development: Evidence from the 2007 German Parental Benefit Reform and Administrative Data

45,000 more than comparable male GPs without children. The main determinants of the family gap are differences in observable characteristics such as working hours, labor-force attachment, and demographics, and additionally, for men, entrepreneurship and practice size. A fixed-effects extension of the analysis confirms both the carer effect of children on female GPs and the breadwinner effect of children on male GPs.

Using the Life Satisfaction Approach to Value Daylight Savings Time Transitions: Evidence from Britain and Germany

Using data from a new longitudinal survey of doctors from Australia, the authors test whether observed large gender-pay gaps among general practitioners (GPs) are the result of womens larger willingness to interrupt their careers. On average, female GPs earn A

What Factors Affect Doctors' Hours Decisions: Comparing Structural Discrete Choice and Reduced-Form Approaches

83,000 or 54% less than male GPs. The difference between men and women with children is A

The Effects of Smoking Bans on Self-Assessed Health: Evidence from Germany.

105,000, and A