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Effects of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credit Laws on Birth Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity

Purpose: Health disparities persist in birth outcomes by mother's income, education, and race in the United States. Disadvantaged mothers may experience benefit from supplements to family income, such as the earned income tax credit (EITC). We examined the effects of state-level EITCs on birth...

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Autores principales: Komro, Kelli A., Markowitz, Sara, Livingston, Melvin D., Wagenaar, Alexander C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6419088/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30886942
http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/heq.2018.0061
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author Komro, Kelli A.
Markowitz, Sara
Livingston, Melvin D.
Wagenaar, Alexander C.
author_facet Komro, Kelli A.
Markowitz, Sara
Livingston, Melvin D.
Wagenaar, Alexander C.
author_sort Komro, Kelli A.
collection PubMed
description Purpose: Health disparities persist in birth outcomes by mother's income, education, and race in the United States. Disadvantaged mothers may experience benefit from supplements to family income, such as the earned income tax credit (EITC). We examined the effects of state-level EITCs on birth outcomes among women with a high school education or less, stratified by race and ethnicity. Methods: A quasi-experimental multistate and multiyear difference-in-differences design is used to assess effects of the presence and generosity of 23 state-level EITC laws on birth outcomes from 1994 to 2013. The methods utilized the U.S. National Vital Statistics System birth data for the outcomes: birth weight, probability of low birth weight (LBW; <2500 g), and gestation weeks. Results: Across all subgroups, any level of state EITC is associated with better birth outcomes with the largest effects seen among states with more generous EITCs. Black mothers experience larger percentage point reductions in the probability of LBW and increases in gestation duration. Among mothers with a high school education or less, results translate into 3760 fewer LBW babies with black mothers and 8364 fewer LBW babies with white mothers per year at the most generous state EITC level (i.e., 10% or more of federal and refundable). Hispanic and non-Hispanic mothers display relatively similar effects. Conclusions: The EITC at the federal and state level is an effective policy tool to reduce poverty and improve birth outcomes across racial and ethnic subgroups. Given the historically higher risk among black mothers, state-level EITC expansions offer one policy option to address this persistent health disparity.
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spelling pubmed-64190882019-03-18 Effects of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credit Laws on Birth Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity Komro, Kelli A. Markowitz, Sara Livingston, Melvin D. Wagenaar, Alexander C. Health Equity Original Article Purpose: Health disparities persist in birth outcomes by mother's income, education, and race in the United States. Disadvantaged mothers may experience benefit from supplements to family income, such as the earned income tax credit (EITC). We examined the effects of state-level EITCs on birth outcomes among women with a high school education or less, stratified by race and ethnicity. Methods: A quasi-experimental multistate and multiyear difference-in-differences design is used to assess effects of the presence and generosity of 23 state-level EITC laws on birth outcomes from 1994 to 2013. The methods utilized the U.S. National Vital Statistics System birth data for the outcomes: birth weight, probability of low birth weight (LBW; <2500 g), and gestation weeks. Results: Across all subgroups, any level of state EITC is associated with better birth outcomes with the largest effects seen among states with more generous EITCs. Black mothers experience larger percentage point reductions in the probability of LBW and increases in gestation duration. Among mothers with a high school education or less, results translate into 3760 fewer LBW babies with black mothers and 8364 fewer LBW babies with white mothers per year at the most generous state EITC level (i.e., 10% or more of federal and refundable). Hispanic and non-Hispanic mothers display relatively similar effects. Conclusions: The EITC at the federal and state level is an effective policy tool to reduce poverty and improve birth outcomes across racial and ethnic subgroups. Given the historically higher risk among black mothers, state-level EITC expansions offer one policy option to address this persistent health disparity. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2019-03-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6419088/ /pubmed/30886942 http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/heq.2018.0061 Text en © Kelli A. Komro et al. 2019; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Komro, Kelli A.
Markowitz, Sara
Livingston, Melvin D.
Wagenaar, Alexander C.
Effects of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credit Laws on Birth Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity
title Effects of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credit Laws on Birth Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity
title_full Effects of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credit Laws on Birth Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity
title_fullStr Effects of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credit Laws on Birth Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity
title_full_unstemmed Effects of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credit Laws on Birth Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity
title_short Effects of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credit Laws on Birth Outcomes by Race and Ethnicity
title_sort effects of state-level earned income tax credit laws on birth outcomes by race and ethnicity
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6419088/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30886942
http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/heq.2018.0061
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