This paper utilizes wealth shocks from winning lottery prizes to examine the causal effect of financial resources on fertility. We employ extensive panels of administrative data encompassing over 0.4 million lottery winners in Taiwan and implement a triple-differences design. Our analyses reveal that a substantial lottery win can significantly increase fertility, the implied wealth elasticity of which is around 0.06. Moreover, the primary channel through which fertility increases is by prompting first births among previously childless individuals. Finally, our analysis reveals that approximately 25% of the total fertility effect stems from increased marriage rates following a lottery win.
U.S. higher education institutions are hiring more minoritized faculty into their teaching workforce to satisfy the demand of an increasingly diverse racial and ethnic student population. However, it is not always clear whether specific hiring policies and plans are intended to address the matter of diversity or representation—two similar but qualitatively different concepts. The policy choices that institutions make result in different implementation approaches and long-term outcomes. Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from 2001 to 2021, this study measures and compares the changes in faculty diversity and student–faculty representation in U.S. higher education institutions over the past two decades. It then develops several simulated scenarios to project the future racial and ethnic landscape of American campuses, depending on the different policy choices that institutions make through their hiring and retention policies. Our recommendation calls for balanced efforts in the retention and hiring of minoritized and underrepresented faculty that are adapted to the individual circumstances of institutions.
Utilizing administrative data encompassing the entire population of Taiwan, this paper investigates the long-term effects of job displacement on earnings and mental health. Focusing on job loss resulting from mass layoffs and plant closures, our estimates suggest displaced workers experienced a 67–68% earning loss in the year following a layoff. Even after ten years, earnings do not fully recover. Displaced workers also experience long-term deterioration in mental health, particularly related to stress, with a 15–16% increase in cumulative outpatient visits for mental health issues and a 57–62% increase in cumulative medical costs for mental illness in the decade post-displacement. The negative impact on mental health is more pronounced among workers with lower earnings, men, and older individuals.
Government programs impose eligibility requirements to balance the goals of improving welfare while minimizing waste. We study the impact of eligibility monitoring in the context of Federal Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) submissions, where students may be subject to “verification” requirements that require them to confirm the accuracy of the data. Using a matching on observables design we do not find that students flagged for verification are less likely to enroll in college, which contrasts prior research. Verification reduces grant aid received but average changes are small, raising questions about the benefits of this administrative process.
This study investigates the impact of teacher favoritism (i.e., systematically favoring students of a specific gender, ethnicity, or high previous class ranking) on teacher treatment and student achievement. Based on the practice of random class grouping within schools, a school fixed effect model is used to estimate the causal effect of teacher favoritism. The results suggest that teacher favoritism toward students with a higher previous class rank increases the likelihood of these students consulting with their teacher on academic, emotional, and friendship issues. Also, female students are more likely to discuss friendships and emotional matters with pro-female teachers. However, the evidence of teacher favoritism’s impact on student achievement is relatively weak.
Healthcare has been one of the most affected sectors during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The utilization of related services for non-COVID-19 diseases fell dramatically following the point at which the virus broke out; however, little is known about whether this observed decline in healthcare use was due to voluntary behaviors or enforced measures. This paper quantifies the spontaneous change in healthcare utilization during the pandemic. We utilize a county-by-week-level dataset from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) record, covering the entire Taiwanese population, and a difference-in-differences design. Our results indicate that even if there were no human mobility restrictions or supply-side constraints, people voluntarily reduced their demand for healthcare, due to fears of contagion, or COVID-related precautionary behaviors. We find that the number of outpatient visits (inpatient admissions) decreased by 19% (10%) during the pandemic period (February to May 2020). Furthermore, the demand response of healthcare for Influenza-like illness (ILI) was much greater and more persistent than for non-ILI, thereby suggesting that the substantial decline in accessing healthcare was induced by positive public health externality of prevention measures for COVID-19. Finally, we find that the demand for healthcare services did not get back to the pre-pandemic baseline, even when there were no local coronavirus cases for 253 consecutive days (mid-April to December 2020) in Taiwan.
The arm’s length principle implies that intermediary cultural organization performs better on art funding allocation than the government or politicians. This paper uses data from the art funding list from 2015 to 2017 in Taiwan to examine whether The National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF, an intermediary cultural organization) distributes funding fairer than The Ministry of Culture (MOC). There are three different concepts of fairness: equity, equality, and need (distributing funding to those who need it). The result of this paper shows MOC and NCAF have no significant difference in equity, but NCAF indeed performs better on equality and need than MOC, although the effect isn’t as strong as we thought. Based on these findings, this paper suggests that the arm’s length principle really works, and it’s necessary for MOC to collaborate with NCAF. However, it’s also important to improve the fairness of art funding allocation in the future.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act introduced a net investment income tax on select wealthy nonprofit colleges. This study examines institutional responses and their impact on educational access. Findings suggest that taxed colleges raised tuition, transferring the burden to students and reducing access for historically underserved groups. However, some colleges strategically increased enrollment to circumvent the tax threshold, creating more educational opportunities. These contrasting responses highlight how policy design significantly influences institutional reactions to taxation. While the tax aimed to address wealth concentration in higher education, its implementation produced mixed results — in some cases undermining educational access while in others expanding it. The findings demonstrate how tax policy can guide institutional behavior toward socially beneficial outcomes.</details
The US federal government has been investing in workforce diversity, yet people of color remain underrepresented in leadership, creating challenges for supervisors of color. This study examines how same-race subordinates affect supervisors’ job satisfaction using federal employee data from 2020-2023. Results show an asymmetric effect: while White supervisors benefit from more same-race subordinates, supervisors of color experience decreased job satisfaction. This negative effect diminishes as minority representation in leadership increases, becoming positive when they exceed 35% of supervisors. Role clarity and supervisor relationships mediate these effects, suggesting supervisors of color face role conflict between organizational norms and community expectations. The findings highlight the burden of representation faced by minority supervisors and the importance of achieving critical mass in leadership positions.
This study examines Taiwan’s 2014 exam-free high school admission reform, which reduced ability tracking while maintaining the general/vocational dual-track system. Using difference-in-differences analysis comparing high school students (exposed) and middle school students (not exposed), I find that the reform increased within-school heterogeneity by 0.088 standard deviations, closing approximately 40% of the stratification gap between full tracking and non-tracking systems. The reform improved equity by enhancing low-performing students’ access to higher-quality schools, qualified teachers, and high-achieving peers. However, this comes at a cost: the detracking reform results in a 0.171 standard deviation decrease in average student performance, with negative effects distributed uniformly across the entire achievement distribution. These findings reveal a fundamental equity-efficiency trade-off, suggesting detracking policies improve educational access for disadvantaged students but may reduce overall academic achievement.
While contracting out is often viewed as having negative consequences for public employees, less focus has been placed on understanding how it can also have positive outcomes for them. Recent scholarship proposes that contracting out may improve employees’ work attitudes when it emphasizes pro-social factors. Using the U.S. federal small, disadvantaged business (SDB) contracting program—which emphasizes diversity and equity in procurement—as an example, this study examines the relationship between contracting programs aimed at promoting social outcomes and public employees’ job satisfaction. Drawing insights from public administration research, we expect a positive relationship between the SDB contracting efforts and public employees’ satisfaction. The U.S. federal government procurement data and the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) were used for analysis. The results show that increased SDB contracting is associated with enhanced job satisfaction. In addition, employees of underrepresented backgrounds experience a more pronounced increase in satisfaction linked to SDB contracting initiatives. The implications of the findings for government contracting and public human resource management are discussed.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been widely adopted in government and public service but whether and to what extent governments adopt AI varies. A key question is whether variation in AI adoption across local governments stems from capacity constraints or political preferences. This matters for knowing which kinds of policies would be most successful in making sure that local governments have access to the technologies that they want and need. This paper combines data from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Survey, American Trends Panel (ATP), the Current Population Survey (CPS), and other public data sources to examine how capacity and political factors influence local government AI adoption in the United States. Using logistic and Poisson regression models, we find that citizens’ attitudes toward AI, public employee unionization, local governments’ financial capacity, and infrastructure support are all key determinants of AI adoption. Notably, political factors (citizens’ attitudes and employees’ resistance) are equally influential as capacity factors in explaining government AI adoption, and in some cases, more powerful. These findings suggest that variation in AI adoption across local governments results not only from capacity barriers but also from political preferences, highlighting the role of democratic processes in technology adoption decisions.
Property reassessments aim to align property’s assessed values with market prices, serving as an essential tool to ensure tax fairness. However, reassessments can unintentionally impact housing values and, therefore, affect wealth distribution. Based on data from 19 Pennsylvania counties, this study examines property reassessment’s impact on housing values. The paper explores two contrasting theories: the capitalization effect, which predicts reduced housing values in wealthy regions and increased prices in less developed areas, and the anchoring effect, anticipating more pronounced price increases in affluent regions and wider disparities in housing prices. Using a difference-in-differences approach and instrumental variable analysis, the study finds the anchoring effect dominates. On average, property reassessment raises housing values by 9% in counties, with a pronounced positive effect in high-priced regions and a negative impact in non-affluent regions. This highlights that while reassessment enhances tax fairness, it also disproportionately benefits wealthier individuals and widens geographical disparity in housing prices, contradicting wealth equality goals.
This study investigates the influence of residing in student dormitories on short and long-term student outcomes within the context of Taiwan. This research examines the causal effects of on-campus residency by utilizing colleges’ dormitory assignment policy based on students’ residential locations and employing a boundary-based regression discontinuity design. The study incorporates a two-way fixed effect model, including both college and village fixed effects, to account for potential geographical self-selection biases. The findings reveal that on-campus living doesn’t significantly impact persistence, but it does enhance the likelihood of pursuing graduate education, primarily influenced by enrolling in the same college for undergraduate studies. This positive effect can be attributed to two intermediate outcomes: an increase in on-campus employment, indicative of greater on-campus engagement, and a higher likelihood of receiving awards from contests or competitions, suggesting increased participation in extracurricular activities. The impact is more pronounced among students from low-income families, those without siblings, and those attending more prestigious colleges.
Market competition is a fundamental justification for government contracting, yet competitive environments are often difficult to achieve in practice. This study examines how state-imposed administrative burdens affect competition in government contracting and whether extending solicitation durations can mitigate these burdens. Analyzing 79,968 contracts and 184,550 bids from Taiwan’s e-procurement system, we find that both learning costs (measured by bidding instruction length) and compliance costs (measured by document requirements and deposit mandates) significantly reduce market competition. Importantly, longer solicitation periods partially offset the negative effect of documents and deposit requirements, though they do not mitigate the negative impact of lengthy bidding instructions. Our findings contribute to contracting literature by applying an administrative burden framework to business-government interactions and offer practical strategies for procurement officials seeking to enhance market competition.