acase@tulane.edu / This dissertation includes three essays analyzing the socio-economic impacts of fiscal policies in the areas of educational attainment, interstate migration, inequality, and poverty. The first chapter, Labor versus Capital in the Provision of Public Services: Estimating the Marginal Products of Inputs in the Production of Student Outcomes, evaluates and compares the impact of various types of school expenditures on student test scores. It finds that additional operating expenditure has a positive short-term impact on students’ test scores (mainly through its impact on teachers’ compensation) while capital expenditures do no have any impact. The second chapter, Do Government Subsidies to Low-income Individuals Affect Interstate Migration? Evidence from the Massachusetts Health Care Reform, estimates the impact of MHCR on interstate migration of low income individuals to Massachusetts. It finds that providing health subsidy to low income individuals increases the population growth rate of low income individuals in border cities of Massachusetts with the other states and the effect diminishes quickly as distance to the state border increases. The third chapter, Fiscal Policy, Inequality, and Poverty in Iran: Assessing the Impact and Effectiveness of Taxes and Transfers, analyzes the fiscal system in Iran and its impact on inequality and poverty. It finds that the Targeted Subsidy Reform plays the major role in reducing inequality and poverty in Iran. / 1 / Ali Enami

The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of interstate migration in the United States (US) from the perspective of institutions and agglomeration economies. Dependent variables used in this study relate to the net interstate migration of four distinct demographic groups; migrants as whole (MIGRATE), migrants aged between 22 and 39 years of age (MIGR2239), migrants aged between 22 and 39 years of age educated to the undergraduate level (BAMIGR), and migrants aged between 22 and 39 years of age educated to the postgraduate level (MAMIGR). Independent variables proxying for institutions are sourced from both the Mercatus Center and the Fraser Institute. The Mercatus Center¡¦s economic freedom index (the MEFI) and overall freedom index (MOFI) represent the relative economic and overall freedoms enjoyed by residents of the 50 states. The Fraser Institute¡¦s economic freedom index (FIEFI) also measures economic freedom. Agglomeration economy proxies relate to both creativity levels in state, measured by Richard Florida¡¦s creativity index (SCI06), and education levels, measured by the percentage of a state¡¦s population educated to the undergraduate level (EDUBPLUS). It is well established that crime and climate are factors that influence migration and these variables are controlled for in this study by using murder rates in the largest in-state city (MURDER) and the average annual number of heating degree days (HDD) in a state. This study uses multivariate linear regression to analyze the variables and the findings emphasize the importance of both institutions and agglomeration economies in explaining the migration decisions of US citizens. Institutions, proxied for by greater economic and overall freedoms, are shown to be more important than agglomeration economies for migrants across a broad range of demographic. Institutions are less important, however, for younger, better educated migrants who reveal preferences for good agglomeration economies and particularly creativity.

In the wake of the Affordable Care Act, some US states expanded Medicaid eligibility to low-income, working-age adults while others did not. This study investigates whether this divergence induces migration across state borders to obtain Medicaid, especially in border regions of expansion states. It compares border with interior regions’ in-migration in the concerned subgroup before and after the Medicaid expansion in linear probability difference-in-difference and triple difference regression frameworks. Using individual-level data from the American Community Surveys over 2012–2017, this study finds only a statistically significant increase in in-migration to border regions after the expansion in Arkansas. The differing results across states could stem from statistical power issues of the employed regression analysis but might also result from state peculiarities. In Arkansas, the odds of having migrated increase by about 48% in its border regions after the Medicaid expansion compared to before and control regions. If all additional migrants take up Medicaid, the number of Medicaid beneficiaries in these regions increases by approximately 4%. Thus, even if the induced migration is statistically significant, it appears unlikely to impose meaningful fiscal externalities at the regional level. / Im Zuge des Affordable Care Acts haben einige US-Bundesstaaten den Anspruch auf Medicaid auf einkommensschwache Erwachsene im arbeitsfähigen Alter ausgeweitet, während andere Bundesstaaten dies nicht taten. Diese Studie untersucht, ob diese Divergenz zu einer Migration über die Bundesstaatsgrenzen führt, um Medicaid zu erhalten, insbesondere in Grenzregionen von Reformbundesstaaten. Sie vergleicht die Zuwanderung in Grenzregionen mit der Zuwanderung in das Landesinnere in der betroffenen Gruppe vor und nach der Medicaid-Ausweitung in linearen Wahrscheinlichkeits-Differenz-in-Differenz- und Dreifach-Differenz-Regressionsanalysen. Unter Verwendung von Daten auf Individualebene aus den American Community Surveys der Jahre 2012–2017 findet diese Studie nur in Arkansas einen statistisch signifikanten Anstieg der Zuwanderung in die Grenzregionen nach der Ausweitung. Die unterschiedlichen Ergebnisse in den einzelnen Bundesstaaten könnten von Problemen mit der statistischen Aussagekraft der durchgeführten Regressionsanalyse herrühren. Sie könnten aber auch aus Besonderheiten der jeweiligen Bundesstaaten resultieren. Eine zufällig ausgewählte Person in den Grenzregionen von Arkansas hat nach der Medicaid-Ausweitung eine um 48% erhöhte Wahrscheinlichkeit zugewandert zu sein im Vergleich zu vorher und den Kontrollregionen. Falls alle zusätzlichen Migranten Medicaid in Anspruch nehmen, steigt die Zahl der Medicaid-Empfänger in diesen Regionen um etwa 4%. Es scheint somit unwahrscheinlich, dass die induzierte Migration zu bedeutenden fiskalischen Externalitäten auf regionaler Ebene führt, selbst wenn der Migrationseffekt statistisch signifikant ist.