Measuring Changes in Disparity Gaps: An Application to Health Insurance
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 112,
May 2022
(pp. 356-60)
Abstract
We propose a method for reporting how program evaluations reduce gaps between groups, such as the gender or Black-White gap. We first show that the reduction in disparities between groups can be written as the difference in conditional average treatment effects (CATE) for each group. Then, using a Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder-style decomposition, we highlight how these CATE can be decomposed into unexplained differences in CATE in other observables versus differences in composition across other observables (e.g. the "endowment"). Finally, we apply this approach to study the impact of Medicare on American's access to health insurance.Citation
Goldsmith-Pinkham, Paul, Karen Jiang, Zirui Song, and Jacob Wallace. 2022. "Measuring Changes in Disparity Gaps: An Application to Health Insurance." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 112: 356-60. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20221111Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- G22 Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
- H51 National Government Expenditures and Health
- I13 Health Insurance, Public and Private
- I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination