Research

Working Papers

“Social Security Eligibility Age and the Health Outcomes and Health Behaviors of the Elderly” Under Review

Abstract: I use a regression discontinuity design to investigate the causal relationship between Social Security eligibility age and the health outcomes and health behaviors of elderly individuals. Specifically, I examine changes when individuals attain the Earliest Eligibility Age (EEA) of 62. Given the aging of the U.S. population and the heated debate about whether the EEA should be increased to solve Social Security’s fiscal imbalance problem, understanding such a relationship is important. I use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to explore this relationship. I find that at the EEA, the probability of receiving Social Security benefits increases by over 30 percentage points. However, there is no evidence that the EEA impacts health. This finding coincides with the idea that health is a stock, the change in which is slow. There is little evidence that the EEA influences mental health. I also show suggestive evidence that when people reach the EEA, they reduce their smoking. I find that males drink more frequently when they reach the EEA. Retirement might be one of the main mechanisms behind the changes in health behaviors.

“Do Food Stamps Increase Smoking?” Under Review

Abstract: One of the major debates over the Food Stamp Program concerns whether food stamps increase recipients’ smoking. To answer this question, I exploit the variations in the eligibility of immigrants for food stamps established by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, the heterogeneous responses of states, and the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. I use data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) to conduct this research. My findings show that the food stamp eligibility of immigrants substantially increases their probability of food stamp participation and the amount of their annual food stamp benefits. However, there is little evidence that food stamp eligibility largely increases smoking among immigrants.

“The Dynamic Pattern of the Impact of Cigarette Taxes on Smoking Behaviors” Under Review

Abstract: According to the theory of rational addiction, due to adjacent complementarity between the past and current consumption of smoking, the long-term effect of a cigarette tax increase is anticipated to be larger than the short-term effect. On the other hand, a theory developed in psychology and behavioral economics suggests that the willpower of people may be exhausted. Even though smokers initially quit or reduce smoking after a cigarette tax increase, the depletion of their willpower can lead to smoking relapse. In this case, the impact of a cigarette tax increase is expected to be larger in the short term than in the long term. Based on these theoretical considerations, I conduct a multiple event study to investigate the dynamic pattern of the impact of cigarette taxes on smoking behaviors. I use data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). My findings are not perfectly consistent with the expectation of the theory of rational addiction nor with the prediction based on psychology and behavioral economics.

“The Use of Financial Information for Budget Cuts under Unprecedented Fiscal Pressure” (with Bong Hwan Kim) Under Review

Abstract: We investigate the use of financial information in the determination of budget cuts under unprecedented fiscal pressure caused by COVID-19. For this examination, we exploit budget reductions during the 2020 fiscal year in South Korea. We provide evidence that, despite time constraints under the current crisis and the political nature of the budgetary process, the central government and policymakers utilize financial information in a way that a government project’s expenditure budget is cut further if its expenditure budget is expected to remain largely unused relative to the expenditure budgets of other government projects by the end of the fiscal year.

Work in Progress

“The Long-Term Impacts of Labor Market Entry Conditions on Health, Health Behaviors, and Subjective Well-Being”

“The Impacts of Liquid Housing Wealth on Health, Health Care Expenditures, and Health Care Utilizations” (with Michael Lovenheim)

“The Impacts of Cigarette Taxes on the Desires Not to Smoke” (with Michael Lovenheim)