Research in Progress

Working Papers 

Fishback, Price, Jessamyn Schaller, and Evan Taylor, “Local Administration and Racial Inequality in Federal Program Access: Insights from New Deal Work Relief." Under Review.

As part of the New Deal, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided work relief jobs for millions of unemployed Americans during the Great Depression. We study racial inequality in access to these work relief jobs. The Federal U.S Government made explicit statements prohibiting racial discrimination in the WPA. However, the program gave hiring powers to local and state administrators, and the federal government only had limited power to enforce racial equality in hiring. Using the 1940 Full Count U.S Census, we estimate Black-white gaps in work relief access separately by county after controlling for household observable characteristics. We find no evidence of racial discrimination against Black men in non-Southern counties, but strong evidence of racial discrimination in the South. We find that Southern counties where housing segregation was low and where Black homeownership rates were high had higher Black access to work relief. Counties where the occupational composition of the white and Black workforce were similar had lower Black relief access. This suggests local competition for scare relief jobs, and racial attitudes of Southern officials compared to Northern officials, both played an important role in limiting Black access to work relief jobs. 

East, Chloe, Elira Kuka, Jessamyn Schaller, and Mariana Zerpa, “Medicaid for Middle Class Families? Job Loss and Health Insurance Coverage of Parents and Children.” 

We use event study methodology to estimate the effects of job loss on the health insurance coverage of children and parents and identify the mitigating role of public insurance (Medicaid/CHIP). We document striking differences in family insurance coverage patterns after job loss across three income groups, with the largest loss of private health insurance occurring in middle class families. While this leads to large gaps in insurance coverage for middle-class parents, we find that access to public health insurance mitigates the effects on children’s coverage through two channels: reduced exposure before job loss and increased take up afterwards.

Work in Progress

“Health Insurance Coverage for Displaced Workers Before and After the Affordable Care Act” (with Mariana Zerpa)

"Cyclical Fertility over the 20th Century" (with Kasey Buckles).

“Dynamic Treatment Effects for Empirical Microeconomists” (with Gaetano Basso and Douglas L. Miller).

"Do Cyclical Fluctuations in Local Economic Conditions Lead to Changes in Student Achievement? Evidence from County Panel Data" (with Karla Cordova)