Projects

Current research projects and working papers.

Working papers

When Income Support Hurts and Helps: Health Effects of Survivors Benefits Job Market Paper, Reject & Resubmit, Journal of Health Economics; Coauthor: Qilu Pan

This paper explores how income support after widowhood affects health in the short and long run, using Social Security Survivors Benefits as our setting. Exploiting the age-60 eligibility threshold, we use a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and data from the Health and Retirement Study to show that benefit eligibility lowers self-reported health and increases diagnosed heart disease and diabetes. We find little evidence of changes in health behaviors or food spending. Instead, eligibility increases out-of-pocket medical spending and prescription drug use, consistent with benefits relaxing liquidity constraints on medical care and bringing previously undiagnosed conditions to clinical attention. We then exploit the 1965 reform that lowered the earliest eligibility age for reduced widow benefits from 62 to 60. Survival to age 70 increased more rapidly among birth cohorts more exposed to the reform, with no comparable pattern in Canada, while all-cause mortality declined more steeply in states with larger widow populations. Taken together, the short-run rise in diagnosed illness is consistent with greater detection through expanded access to care, and greater exposure to benefits is associated with improved survival in the long run.

Survivors Benefits and Intergenerational Transfers: Evidence from Adult Children’s Labor Supply Working paper

Applied Regression Kink Design (RKD) using SIPP and ATUS microdata to examine how Social Security survivor benefit eligibility at age 60 reshapes resource transfers within families. Find that eligibility significantly increases intergenerational financial transfers from widowed parents(aged 55-65) to adult children, but leaves time-based caregiving transfers unchanged — suggesting income effects drive the reallocation. Downstream effects on children's labor supply are also identified: benefit eligibility reduces children's working hours. Heterogeneity analysis by parental health status reveals differential responses across health groups. Additionally, exploit the Medicare eligibility kink at age 65 to examine how the interaction between Social Security and Medicare jointly shapes these family spillovers.

Effects of the ACA's Dependent Coverage Provision on Young Adults Working paper

Uses Difference-in-Differences and a triple-difference framework on CPS microdata (2008–2013) to estimate causal effects of the ACA's dependent coverage provision on insurance uptake and labor-market outcomes.
Produces parallel-trend graphs and subgroup analyses in Stata.

Methods & data

My empirical toolkit spans quasi-experimental designs, VaR models, and applied machine learning. I work with large longitudinal microdata (more than five million observations) and frequently merge administrative records with survey data.

Tools

Programming: Python, Stata, MATLAB, SQL, Tableau
Econometric methods: Regression Discontinuity (RDD/Fuzzy RD), Regression Kink Design (RKD), Difference-in-Differences (DID/DDD), Instrumental Variables (IV/2SLS), Panel data models, Life-cycle models, Welfare models
Machine learning: Regression, classification, clustering
Datasets: Health and Retirement Study (HRS), Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), Current Population Survey (CPS), Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES), Human Mortality Database (HMD)