Dataset Information

The short-term impacts of Earned Income Tax Credit disbursement on health.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There are conflicting findings regarding long- and short-term effects of income on health. Whereas higher average income is associated with better health, there is evidence that health behaviours worsen in the short-term following income receipt.Prior studies revealing such negative short-term effects of income receipt focus on specific subpopulations and examine a limited set of health outcomes.

Methods

The United States Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is an income supplement tied to work, and is the largest poverty reduction programme in the USA. We utilize the fact that EITC recipients typically receive large cash transfers in the months of February,March and April, in order to examine associated changes in health outcomes that can fluctuate on a monthly basis. We examine associations with 30 outcomes in the categories of diet, food security, health behaviours, cardiovascular biomarkers, metabolic biomarkers and infection and immunity among 6925 individuals from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Survey. Our research design approximates a natural experiment,since whether individuals were sampled during treatment or non-treatment months is independent of social, demographic and health characteristics that do not vary with time.

Results

There are both beneficial and detrimental short-term impacts of income receipt.Although there are detrimental impacts on metabolic factors among women, most other impacts are beneficial, including those for food security, smoking and trying to lose weight.

Conclusions

The short-term impacts of EITC income receipt are not universally health promoting, but on balance there are more health benefits than detriments.

SUBMITTER: Rehkopf DH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4342690 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

The short-term impacts of Earned Income Tax Credit disbursement on health.

Rehkopf David H DH Strully Kate W KW Dow William H WH

International journal of epidemiology 20141201 6

<h4>Background</h4>There are conflicting findings regarding long- and short-term effects of income on health. Whereas higher average income is associated with better health, there is evidence that health behaviours worsen in the short-term following income receipt.Prior studies revealing such negative short-term effects of income receipt focus on specific subpopulations and examine a limited set of health outcomes.<h4>Methods</h4>The United States Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is an income sup ...[more]

PMID: 25172139

Similar Datasets

Project description:ObjectiveTo assess the relationship between the presence and generosity of state-level Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) and multiple self-reported measures of general health.Data sourcesData on state-level tax credits and covariates were obtained from the National Bureau of Economic Research and University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research, respectively. These data were merged with Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey records from 1993-2016.Study designUsing difference-in-differences approaches and survey-weighted Poisson regression that accounted for clustering of observations and included state and year fixed-effects, we assessed relationships between EITC and self-reported overall health, frequent mental distress, and frequent poor physical health in the prior 30 days. Covariates included state minimum wage, state GDP, and adoption of Medicaid expansion. Sensitivity analyses revealed that parallel trends were plausible; there were no significant lead and lag effects.Data extraction methodsAnalyses were restricted to respondents with no more than a high school diploma or equivalent because less-educated adults are more likely to be low-wage earners and therefore qualify for EITC.Principal findingsAmong adults with no education beyond high school (n = 2 884 790), each additional 10-percentage-point increase in the generosity of state EITC-relative to the federal credit-was associated with fewer reports of frequent mental distress (-97.3 per 100 000; 95% CI: -237.2, 42.6) and frequent poor physical health (-149.6 per 100 000; 95% CI: -284.4, -14.9). When restricted to individuals interviewed during the three months when tax rebates are commonly disbursed, the magnitude of the association between EITC and prevalence of reported frequent mental distress was greater (-329.7 per 100 000; 95% CI: -636.0, -23.5).ConclusionsThe generosity of state EITC policies is positively associated with significant reductions in frequent mental distress and poor physical health, especially during months when the credit is received. Interventions to reduce poverty may positively impact health by reducing material hardship and stress.

Dataset Information

The short-term impacts of Earned Income Tax Credit disbursement on health.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

The short-term impacts of Earned Income Tax Credit disbursement on health.

Similar Datasets

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