Policy impact evaluations on labour and health

• Main Author: CHAY, Junxing
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2020
• Subjects: Health Economics; Labor Economics
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/282; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1283&context=etd_coll
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This dissertation consists of three chapters that evaluate the impacts of public policies on labour and health. The first chapter studies a wage supplement scheme in Singapore, called the Workfare Income Supplement, which targets older low-income workers. I exploit differences in maximum benefits across age and over time to find that increasing benefits generosity encourages labour market participation and selfemployment. I also find improved life satisfaction and happiness among those with low education, who are likely to be eligible for the scheme. These results suggest that wage supplements can ease some burdens of an ageing population. The second chapter investigates the effects of raising a non-pension retirement age on labour market outcomes and subjective well-being in Singapore. Adopting a difference-in-differences identification strategy, I find an increase in employment and a decrease in retirement of older workers. Additional analyses suggest that mental anchors may be an important mechanism. I also find improved satisfaction with life as whole and with health, especially among those who are less educated, less prepared for retirement or dissatisfied with household income. The third chapter examines heterogeneous health effects of medical marijuana legalization on young adults in the United States. Using a difference- in-differences approach accounting for spatial spill-over, I find that states with stricter regulations generate health gains, but not states with lax access to marijuana. Subsample analysis reveal that subgroups such as Blacks, individuals from lower-income households and the uninsured experience larger gains under strict regulations. However, the low-educated, individuals from lower-income households and the uninsured are more likely to suffer worse health under lax regulations.