Joseph J. Sabia

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MINIMUM-WAGE INCREASES IN REDUCING POVERTY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Extending the work of Card and Krueger, we find minimum‐wage increases (1988–2003) did not affect poverty rates overall, or among the working poor or among single mothers. Despite employment growth among single mothers, most gainers lived in nonpoor families and most working poor already had wages above the proposed minimums. Simulating a new federal minimum wage of

The effect of adolescent virginity status on psychological well-being

7.25 per hour, we find 87% of workers who benefit live in nonpoor families. Poor single mothers receive 3.8% of all benefits. Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit would far more effectively reduce poverty, especially for single mothers. (JEL J21, J31, J38)

Medical marijuana laws and suicides by gender and age.

Although previous research has found that sexually active teens are more likely to suffer from depression, it is not clear whether this association is causal or spurious in nature. This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine whether virginity status affects self-esteem and depression. For males, fixed effects and instrumental variables (IV) estimates provide little evidence that sex is causally related to psychological well-being. In contrast, IV estimates indicate that sexually active female adolescents are at increased risk of exhibiting the symptoms of depression relative to their counterparts who are not sexually active. Comparing the psychological well-being of females who used contraception at last intercourse with that of virgins suggests that these effects may be ameliorated, but not eliminated, by contraceptive use.

Body weight and wages: Evidence from Add Health

OBJECTIVES We estimated the association between legalizing medical marijuana and suicides. METHODS We obtained state-level suicide data from the National Vital Statistics Systems Mortality Detail Files for 1990-2007. We used regression analysis to examine the association between medical marijuana legalization and suicides per 100 000 population. RESULTS After adjustment for economic conditions, state policies, and state-specific linear time trends, the association between legalizing medical marijuana and suicides was not statistically significant at the .05 level. However, legalization was associated with a 10.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = -17.1%, -3.7%) and 9.4% (95% CI = -16.1%, -2.4%) reduction in the suicide rate of men aged 20 through 29 years and 30 through 39 years, respectively. Estimates for females were less precise and sensitive to model specification. CONCLUSIONS Suicides among men aged 20 through 39 years fell after medical marijuana legalization compared with those in states that did not legalize. The negative relationship between legalization and suicides among young men is consistent with the hypothesis that marijuana can be used to cope with stressful life events. However, this relationship may be explained by alcohol consumption. The mechanism through which legalizing medical marijuana reduces suicides among young men remains a topic for future study.

The Effect of Breast Feeding on Educational Attainment: Evidence from Sibling Data

This note uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine the relationship between body weight and wages. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and individual fixed effects estimates provide evidence that overweight and obese white women are paid substantially less per hour than their slimmer counterparts. Two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation confirms this relationship, suggesting that it is not driven by time-variant unobservables.

The relationship between abortion and depression: New evidence from the fragile families and child wellbeing study

Using data on sibling pairs drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate the effect of having been breast‐fed on high school graduation, high school grades, and college attendance. Our results suggest that breast feeding is associated with substantial increases in high school grade point average and in the probability of college attendance. Adding measures of cognitive ability and adolescent health to our model explains more than one‐half of the estimated effect of being breast‐fed on high school grades and approximately one‐fifth of the estimated effect on college attendance. We conclude that improvements in cognitive ability and adolescent health may be important pathways through which breast feeding affects long‐term academic achievement.

Identifying Minimum Wage Effects: New Evidence from Monthly CPS Data

BACKGROUND Although a number of studies have used survey data to examine the relationship between abortion and depression, none adjusted their estimates for pre-pregnancy depression. The purpose of this study was to test if abortion is associated with a different risk of major depression (MD) symptomatology than other pregnancy outcomes after adjusting for prior depression. MATERIAL/METHODS The current study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a representative sample of women living in large US cities who recently gave birth. Participants were administered the Composite International Diagnostic Interview - Short Form (CIDI-SF) during the first and second follow-up interviews. Changes in depressive symptoms from the first to the second follow-up interviews were related to abortion and other pregnancy outcomes including giving birth and miscarriage. RESULTS Women who had an abortion between the first and second follow-up interviews were almost twice as likely to have symptoms of MD as women who did not become pregnant. This difference could not be explained by factors such as race, ethnicity, age, education, household income, number of children, or prior depressive symptomatology. In fact, after adjusting for these factors, abortion was still associated with a more than two-fold increase in the likelihood of having depressive symptoms at second follow-up (OR=2.15, 95% CI: 1.01 to 4.57, p=0.047). Giving birth was associated with a statistically comparable increase in the likelihood of having the symptoms of MD. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the positive association between abortion and depressive symptoms cannot be explained by pre-pregnancy depression. Women who have an abortion are not at higher risk of MD than those who give birth.

A head above the rest: height and adolescent psychological well-being.

The appropriateness of including year effects in employment models has been a contentious issue in the minimum wage literature. Using monthly data from the 1979-2004 Current Population Surveys, I find consistent evidence of adverse labor demand effects for teenagers across specifications preferred by those on each side of this debate. Estimated employment elasticities range from -0.2 to -0.3 and unconditional hours elasticities from -0.4 to -0.5.

The Effect of Migraine Headache on Educational Attainment

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examine the effect of adolescent height on mental health as measured by Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scores and Rosenberg Self-Esteem (RSE) scores. We find evidence that height is associated with fewer symptoms of depression among females 17-19 years of age, and among males 12-19 years of age. The negative relationship between height and depression among males persists after controlling for body mass index (BMI), differences in pubertal timing, and individual fixed effects, but does not explain the effect of height on educational attainment. We conclude that there is a small psychological benefit for males to being taller as an adolescent.

Sexual Orientation and Wages in Young Adulthood: New Evidence from Add Health

Despite the fact that migraine headaches are common and debilitating, little is known about their effect on educational attainment. Using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate the relationship between migraine headache and three outcomes: high school grade point average, the probability of graduating high school, and the probability of attending college. Our results provide evidence that migraine headache negatively impacts human capital accumulation. The relationship between migraine headache and educational attainment is explained, in part, through its effect on school absences and the respondent’s self-reported ability to pay attention in class and complete homework.