Are Recessions Really Good for Your Health?
Awarded to Douglas Miller, Marianne Page & Ann Stevens, Center for the Economics & Demographics of Aging UC Berkeley, $27,670
The starting point for this project is a series of papers by Christopher Ruhm, who finds that mortality rates and other measures of health are strongly pro-cyclical. Ruhm's analyses are based on regression of state/year mortality rates on state year unemployment rates, as well as state and year fixed effects, and are robust to a wide variety of alternative specifications and control variables. The findings that recessions are "good for your health" (i.e. negatively correlated with mortality rates) is widely cited in the health economics literature. The purpose of this project is to shed light on the mechanisms behind the pro-cyclical nature of mortality rates and other measures of health.
Lois Wolk Seminar
Mexican-American Postsecondary Pathways: Investigating the College Attendance Gap