The short-term impacts of Earned Income Tax Credit disbursement on health.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There are conflicting findings regarding long- and short-term effects of income on health. Whereas higher average income is associated with better health, there is evidence that health behaviours worsen in the short-term following income receipt.Prior studies revealing such negative short-term effects of income receipt focus on specific subpopulations and examine a limited set of health outcomes.

Methods

The United States Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is an income supplement tied to work, and is the largest poverty reduction programme in the USA. We utilize the fact that EITC recipients typically receive large cash transfers in the months of February,March and April, in order to examine associated changes in health outcomes that can fluctuate on a monthly basis.

SUBMITTER: Rehkopf DH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4342690 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature