TY  - JOUR
AU  - Guldi, Melanie
AU  - Hawkins, Amelia
AU  - Hemmeter, Jeffrey
AU  - Schmidt, Lucie
TI  - Supplemental Security Income and Child Outcomes: Evidence from Birth Weight Eligibility Cutoffs
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 24913
PY  - 2018
Y2  - August 2018
DO  - 10.3386/w24913
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w24913
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w24913.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Melanie E. Guldi
Department of Economics
University of Central Florida
4336 Scorpius Street
Orlando, FL 32816-1400
E-Mail: mguldi@bus.ucf.edu

Amelia A. Hawkins
Department of Economics 
University of Michigan 
611 Tappan St. 
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
E-Mail: aaehawki@umich.edu

Jeffrey Hemmeter
Office of Research, Demonstration, and Employment 
Social Security Administration
4303 Annex Bldg
6401 Security Blvd
Baltimore, MD 21235
Tel: 410-597-1815
E-Mail: jeffrey.hemmeter@ssa.gov

Lucie Schmidt
Department of Economics
Williams College
201 Schapiro Hall
Williamstown, MA 01267
Tel: 413/884-5449
E-Mail: lschmidt@williams.edu
AB  - Low birth weight infants born to mothers with low educational attainment have a double hurdle to overcome in the production of human capital. We examine whether income transfers in the form of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for children with disabilities can help close the gap in outcomes due to this initial health and environmental disadvantage. We exploit a discontinuity in SSI eligibility at 1200 grams and use a regression discontinuity approach to produce causal estimates of the effects of SSI eligibility. We find that eligibility increases disability benefit participation, improves child outcomes and parenting behaviors, and shifts maternal labor supply from full to part time. 
ER  -