Seminarios

Presenta: Pablo Celhay (Ph.D. in Public Policy, University of Chicago; profesor asistente, Escuela de Gobierno, Universidad Católica de Chile)

Lugar y hora: 2 de octubre, 12:30 hrs. Sala P-301, Edificio Placa (Diagonal Paraguay 257)

This article investigates the relation between child health and mother’s labor supply using shocks in local health supply quality and access to health insurance for children in Mexico. We combine the staggered roll-out and an age-specific eligibility rule of a child health insurance program in Mexico that targeted children to estimate the effects of the program on labor supply choices of their mothers and fathers. We find evidence that access the program increases mother’s labor force participation by 3.2 percentage points (eight percent) – driven by lower educated and single mothers. We find no effects on fathers’ labor supply. A dynamic analysis shows that the effects start to take up after two years onto program’s onset. These findings are robust to several specification checks. Improvements in child health, higher demand for daycare and intra-household reallocation of dependent care responsibilities are plausible mechanisms behind increases in mothers’ labor supply.