Exam 2

1. As emphasized in class lecture, mother’s education is a very good predictor of infant health outcomes (such as birthweight and infant mortality). To see this, if we were to estimate the following specification: \(infant\;mortaility= \alpha +\beta mother\;educa + \epsilon\) … eq (1) the coefficient on \(\beta\) will be greater than zero. From this finding we can state that

1. Mother’s education leads to improvements in children’s health (in other words; a causal relationship).
2. Just because \(\beta > 0\), it does not suggest a causal relationship, as other factors that can affect both mother’s education and children health are not accounted for.
3. Educated mothers are likely to be from richer famlies, which can confound the relationship in eq (1).
4. both (b) and (c).

2. One way to get at the causal relationship between mother’s education and infant health would be to conduct a randomized experiment, such that a random group of selected mothers are provided with better education compared to the control group. This type of experiment
   

1. is pareto optimal, so should be conducted around the world
2. is unethical, although pareto optimal
3. should be conducted for the sake of others
4. both (a) and (c)

3. Disparity in infant health outcomes here in U.S. based on mother’s education is only at the average of health variables (such as birthweight) but not across the entire distribution (of birthweight).

1. True
2. False

4. The general idea of income-gradient speaks to a causal relationship between higher income and better health stock.

1. True
2. False

5. As discussed in the lecture, several studies have pointed to the direction supporting that education has a causal impact on improving health outcomes. Based on this, say hypothetically, if education of African Americans were made similar to that of whites, then health disparity across these two race groups would not exist.

1. True
2. False

6. In the paper “Maternal Education and Infant Health Gradient: New Answers to Old Questions”, Shrestha (2020) documents
   • choice a. the relationship between education, income and life expectancy.
   • choice b. the relationship between mother’s education, income and her health outcomes.
   • choice c. the relationship between mother’s education, income and infant health outcomes denoted by birthweight.
     
   • choice d. the relationship between household head’s education, income and infant health outcomes denoted by self-reported health.
7. One of the findings in Shrestha (2020) is that
   • choice a. mother’s education and infant health gradient is higher between groups of mothers with less than high school and high school level education.
   • choice b. mother’s education and infant health gradient is higher between groups of mothers with some college and college level education.
   • choice c. income-health gradient is prevalent across all reported education categories.
   • both a and c
8. Shrestha (2020) finds that mother’s education-infant health gradient is higher in poorer communities compared to relatively rich communities.
   • choice a. True
     
   • choice b. False
9. According to Shrestha (2020), the reduction in magnitude of mother’s education-infant health gradient overtime can be due to
   • choice a. reduction in smoking participation among pregnant mothers in the past decades.
     
   • choice b. reduction in alcohol consumption among pregnant mothers in the past decades.
   • choice c. increases in private health insurance provision among less educated groups.
   • choice d. increases in employers sponsored insurance provision among less educated groups.
10. Consider a simple specification given as: \(birthweight = \alpha + \beta mother's \; education + \epsilon\). Note that this equation does not account for income. Which of the following is/are true:
    • choice a. it is important to account for income as households with higher income can afford more education. Hence, the effects of education as seen after estimating the specification can actually be driven due to income.
    • choice b. it is not important to account for income as education is known to be a better predictor of health outcomes.
    • choice c. without accounting for income, the estimate on \(\beta\) is likely to be overstated.
    • choice d. both a and c.
11. Education gradient and income gradient are phenomenons present among whites but absent for blacks.
    • choice a. True
    • choice b. False
12. Tuskegee study can be best referred to as:
    • choice a. a study that passively monitored hundreds of people in the south with syphilis in absense of effective treatment.
    • choice b. a study that passively monitored hundreds of blacks in the south with syphilis despite availability of effective treatment.
    • choice c. a study that passively monitored hundreds of blacks men in the south with syphilis despite availability of effective treatment.
      
    • choice d. a study that conducted randomized control trial to understand the course of syphilis.
13. In their paper “Tuskegee and the Health of Black Men,” Alsan and Wanamaker (2017) show that
    • choice a. although the trend in black-white infant mortality rate was converging prior to 1972, white’s infant mortality started falling more rapidly compared to that of black’s following 1972.
    • choice b. although the trend in black-white mortality rate (for ages 55-74) was converging prior to 1972, mortality among whites started falling more rapidly compared to that of black’s following 1972 across both male and female groups.
    • choice c. although the difference in black-white mortality rate (for ages 55-74) was converging prior to 1972, black-white mortality among females converged even after 1972 but the difference for males actually increased.
      
    • choice d. although the difference in black-white mortality rate (for ages 55-74) was converging prior to 1972, black-white mortality among males converged even after 1972 but the difference for females actually increased.
14. Which of the following variation is not used by Alsan and Wanamaker (2017) to identify the effects of medical trust due to Tuskegee experiment:
    • choice a. difference by gender as participants were males.
    • choice b. difference by race (black versus white)
    • choice c. difference by age (young versus old)
      
    • choice d. distance away from Tuskegee (in Macon, Alabama) as the intensity of discloure will wean out with distance away from Tuskegee.
15. Alsan and Wanamaker (2017) finds that
    • choice a. the medical mistrust due to Tuskegee reduced life expectancy among black men living close to Tuskegee, Alabama.
      
    • choice b. the medical mistrust due to Tuskegee reduced life expectancy among black females living close to Tuskegee, Alabama.
    • choice c. the medical mistrust due to Tuskegee reduced life expectancy among black infants living close to Tuskegee, Alabama.
    • choice c. the medical mistrust due to Tuskegee reduced life expectancy among black populace living close to Tuskegee, Alabama.
16. Alsan and Wanamaker (2017) study looks at the short and medium run impact of Tuskegee but does not identify long term persistent effects.
    • choice a. True
      
    • choice b. False
17. Students living far from school location are likely to miss more classes. Observing this correlation, can you attest that increase in distance leads to a reduction in class attendance?

1. Yes, as distance is negatively associated with attendance creating no selection bias.
2. No, as people living away from school might have different set of prefences compared to people living closer to school. This leads to selection bias.
   
3. No, as the relationship between distance and attendance is likely to be overstated due to selection bias.
4. both b and c.

18. Which of the following represents the most appropriate natural experiment to evaluate the relationship between distance away from school and class attendance.

1. Comparing people who have cars versus people who don’t have cars, as cars reduce time of travel.
2. Comparing people who live along the bus route versus people who live further away from bus route.
3. An implementation of randomly assigned shuttle routes across town, which reduces time of travel for those living closer to the newer route.
   
4. Comparing people living in rich versus poor neighborhood based on neighborhood income.

19. To evaluate the causal effects of maternal education and infant health outcomes, Currie and Moretti (2003) use

1. compulsory education reform implemented during an individual’s college going age as a natural experiment.
2. expansion of GI Bills during an individual’s college going age as a natural experiment.
3. construction of colleges in an individual’s neighborhood during the time of one’s college going age as a natural experiment.
   
4. expansion of the EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) during an individual’s college going age as a natural experiment.

20. By using fasting during the period of Ramadan as a natural experiment, Almond et al. (2014) addresses one of the following hypothesis used to explain health disparity in society.

1. The Barker hypothesis (in utero hypothesis)
   
2. The efficient producer hypothesis
3. allostatic load hypothesis
4. The Fuchs hypothesis

21. Which of the following is/are likely to be problematic in Almond et al. (2014)?

1. Pregnancy outcomes are generally random, in a sense that parents cannot systematically time them.
2. Households who are more likely to systematically time pregnancy are likely to be different from the other households (for whom it is more random).
3. One potential problem using Ramadan as a natural experiment is that some mothers can time their pregnancy to make sure that it does not fall during the Ramadan month.
   
4. both a and b
5. both a and c

22. The Fuchs hypothesis suggests that

1. health determines socio economic status.
2. socio economic status determines health.
3. both health outcomes and socio economic indicators are driven by the third factor – time preference. Here, individuals are forward thinking.
   
4. both health outcomes and socio economic indicators are driven by the third factor – time preference. Here, individuals have low discount factor in the multi period utility setting.

23. Which of the following is true about discount rate.

1. discount rate is likely to be constant across one’s life time.
2. discount rate is likely to vary in one’s life period. For example, specific events such as birth of a child is likely to increase one’s discount rate.
   
3. discount rate is determined outside of one’s control.
4. both b and c.

24. Education and health are positively correlated. In other words, educated individuals are likely to have better health compared to less educated individuals. From this statement alone can you infer that education causes better health?

1. Yes, as correlation can be regarded as causal inference.
2. No, as better health stock may lead to better education outcomes. So just by looking at the correlation, it is unclear as to if education creates better health.
3. No, as there are other factors not accounted for in this assessment. Forinstance, educated individuals are likely to have higher income, which may also affect health.
4. Both b and c.

25. This problem pertains to the randomized control trial. Say, you want to find outwhether the demand for doctor visits is downward sloping among young adults. To do so, you do a lottery and randomly assign health insurance for 25 people, who aretechnically termed as the ``treated group." The other 25 people who did not receiveinsurance are control group. Consider the specification \(visits=\alpha+\beta Treat+\epsilon\). Here, visits represent the total number of doctor visits, Treat is the group that was assigned insurance through the lottery draw, and ε is the error term. Say, after estimating this specification, you find that \(\beta>0\). What does this suggest?

1. There is a causal relationship between getting insured and increasing utilization of health care and services.
2. There is a causal relationship between getting insured and decreasing utilization of health care and services.
3. This tells us nothing about the causal relationship between insurance and health care as third factors such as education and income will be confounding the findings.
4. Typically the randomized control trials cannot be used to access causal relationships.