I am an Assistant Professor in the Farmer School of Business at Miami University. I teach Public Sector Economics. Address: 800 E. High St Oxford, OH 45056
Previous work on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has documented that partici... more Previous work on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has documented that participants increase food consumption right after benefit receipt, and subsequently reduce consumption throughout the month. Such consumption patterns have the potential to affect incentives for criminal behavior both at the beginning of the month, when economic activity increases, and at the end of the month, when resources within low-income communities are limited. In this paper, we study the effects of the timing of nutritional aid disbursement on crime, utilizing three main sources of variation: (i) a policy change in Illinois which substantially increased the number of SNAP distribution days, (ii) an existing Indiana policy that issues SNAP benefits by last name, and (iii) a policy change in Indiana which shifted the distribution of SNAP issuance dates later in the month. We find that staggering SNAP benefit issuance over multiple days of the month leads to a 32 percent decrease in grocery store theft and reduces monthly cyclicality in crime at grocery stores. Findings also show that criminal behavior decreases in the second and third weeks following receipt, but increases in the last week of the benefit cycle. Theft, in particular, exhibits such a pattern, potentially due to resource constraints.
We estimate the degree to which expanding access to long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs)... more We estimate the degree to which expanding access to long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) can reduce teen birth rates by analyzing Colorado's Family Planning Initiative, the first large-scale policy intervention to expand access to LARCs in the United States. Using a difference-indifferences approach, we find that the $23M program reduced the teen birth rate in counties with clinics receiving funding by 6.4 percent over five years. These effects were concentrated in the second through fifth years of the program and in counties with relatively high poverty rates. State-level synthetic control estimates offer supporting evidence but suffer from a lack of power.
Publicly funded family planning clinics provide low-cost and free contraception to nearly 1.5 mil... more Publicly funded family planning clinics provide low-cost and free contraception to nearly 1.5 million teens each year. In recent years, several states have considered legislation to defund family planning services, although little is known about how these cuts affect teen pregnancy. This paper fills this knowledge gap by exploiting a policy change in Texas that reduced funding for family planning services by 67 percent and resulted in over 80 clinic closures. I estimate the effects of the funding cuts on teen health outcomes using a difference-in-differences approach that compares the changes in teen birth rates in Texas counties that lost family planning funding to changes in counties outside of Texas with publicly funded clinics. I find that reducing funding for family planning services in Texas increased teen birth rates by approximately 3.4 percent over four years with effects concentrated 2-3 years after the initial cuts.
Despite a near-continuous decline over the past 20 years, the teen birth rate in the United State... more Despite a near-continuous decline over the past 20 years, the teen birth rate in the United States continues to be higher than that of other developed countries. Given that over three- quarters of teen births are unintended at conception and that over a third of unplanned births are to women using contraception, many have advocated for promoting the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), which are more effective at preventing pregnancy than more commonly used contraceptives. In order to speak to the degree to which increasing access to LARCs can reduce teen birth rates, this paper analyzes the first large-scale policy intervention to promote and improve access to LARCs in the United States: Colorado’s Family Planning Initiative. We estimate its effects using a difference-in-differences approach, comparing the changes in teen birth rates in Colorado counties with Title X clinics (which received funding) to the changes observed in other US counties with Title X clinics. The results of this analysis indicate that the $23 million program reduced the teen birth rate by approximately 5% in the four years following its implementation, providing support for the notion that increasing access to LARCs is a mechanism through which policy can reduce teenage childbearing.
Previous work on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has documented that partici... more Previous work on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has documented that participants increase food consumption right after benefit receipt, and subsequently reduce consumption throughout the month. Such consumption patterns have the potential to affect incentives for criminal behavior both at the beginning of the month, when economic activity increases, and at the end of the month, when resources within low-income communities are limited. In this paper, we study the effects of the timing of nutritional aid disbursement on crime, utilizing three main sources of variation: (i) a policy change in Illinois which substantially increased the number of SNAP distribution days, (ii) an existing Indiana policy that issues SNAP benefits by last name, and (iii) a policy change in Indiana which shifted the distribution of SNAP issuance dates later in the month. We find that staggering SNAP benefit issuance over multiple days of the month leads to a 32 percent decrease in grocery store theft and reduces monthly cyclicality in crime at grocery stores. Findings also show that criminal behavior decreases in the second and third weeks following receipt, but increases in the last week of the benefit cycle. Theft, in particular, exhibits such a pattern, potentially due to resource constraints.
We estimate the degree to which expanding access to long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs)... more We estimate the degree to which expanding access to long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) can reduce teen birth rates by analyzing Colorado's Family Planning Initiative, the first large-scale policy intervention to expand access to LARCs in the United States. Using a difference-indifferences approach, we find that the $23M program reduced the teen birth rate in counties with clinics receiving funding by 6.4 percent over five years. These effects were concentrated in the second through fifth years of the program and in counties with relatively high poverty rates. State-level synthetic control estimates offer supporting evidence but suffer from a lack of power.
Publicly funded family planning clinics provide low-cost and free contraception to nearly 1.5 mil... more Publicly funded family planning clinics provide low-cost and free contraception to nearly 1.5 million teens each year. In recent years, several states have considered legislation to defund family planning services, although little is known about how these cuts affect teen pregnancy. This paper fills this knowledge gap by exploiting a policy change in Texas that reduced funding for family planning services by 67 percent and resulted in over 80 clinic closures. I estimate the effects of the funding cuts on teen health outcomes using a difference-in-differences approach that compares the changes in teen birth rates in Texas counties that lost family planning funding to changes in counties outside of Texas with publicly funded clinics. I find that reducing funding for family planning services in Texas increased teen birth rates by approximately 3.4 percent over four years with effects concentrated 2-3 years after the initial cuts.
Despite a near-continuous decline over the past 20 years, the teen birth rate in the United State... more Despite a near-continuous decline over the past 20 years, the teen birth rate in the United States continues to be higher than that of other developed countries. Given that over three- quarters of teen births are unintended at conception and that over a third of unplanned births are to women using contraception, many have advocated for promoting the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), which are more effective at preventing pregnancy than more commonly used contraceptives. In order to speak to the degree to which increasing access to LARCs can reduce teen birth rates, this paper analyzes the first large-scale policy intervention to promote and improve access to LARCs in the United States: Colorado’s Family Planning Initiative. We estimate its effects using a difference-in-differences approach, comparing the changes in teen birth rates in Colorado counties with Title X clinics (which received funding) to the changes observed in other US counties with Title X clinics. The results of this analysis indicate that the $23 million program reduced the teen birth rate by approximately 5% in the four years following its implementation, providing support for the notion that increasing access to LARCs is a mechanism through which policy can reduce teenage childbearing.
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Papers by Analisa Packham