Panel:
Supplemental Security Income for Children and Child and Family Outcomes
(Poverty and Income Policy)
Thursday, November 3, 2016: 1:15 PM-2:45 PM
Dupont (Washington Hilton)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Panel Organizers: Lucie Schmidt, Williams College
Panel Chairs: Stephanie Rennane, RAND Corporation
Discussants: Rebecca Vallas, Center for American Progress
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides income support to a growing number of children with disabilities in the United States. Despite the increasing role that SSI plays in the safety net for low-income children, we know very little about the effects that the cash transfers from SSI (and the accompanying health insurance) have on child outcomes. This panel includes three papers that help fill in that gap. The first paper exploits SSI eligibility cutoffs for low birth weight infants to estimate the causal effects of SSI receipt on infant hospitalization, maternal labor supply, child development, and parenting behaviors. The second paper explores state-level variation in age-18 SSI cessation rates and how this variation is associated with young adult outcomes for former child SSI recipients. The final paper uses variation in eligibility standards for child SSI generated by the Sullivan v Zebley Supreme Court decision to examine the effects of additional years of child SSI exposure on young adult labor market outcomes. As a whole, the panel will provide new evidence on the effects of an important government transfer program targeted at vulnerable children, and help inform policy makers and influence future research.
