Research

Working Papers

Crowded at Birth: Lasting Effects of Maternity Ward Crowding in California [Draft]
with Yuli Xu

Abstract: We study how overcrowding during a woman's first childbirth influences both clinical practices and subsequent healthcare choices, using comprehensive administrative records on all California births between 1989 and 2017. Leveraging quasi-random, within-hospital variation in daily number of patients, we find that overcrowding reduces the intensity of medical interventions—such as C-sections, epidurals, inductions, and augmentations—consistent with efforts to relieve physician workload. Despite these adjustments, we find no detectable adverse effects on immediate maternal or infant health. Looking beyond the initial birth, we show that overcrowding does not alter future fertility but significantly increases the likelihood that mothers switch hospitals for subsequent deliveries. We find no systematic patterns in hospital selection, indicating that switching is driven primarily by negative first-birth experiences.

Work in Progress

The Financial Impacts of Pregnancy and Childbirth
with Lei Ma and Victoria Wang

The Effect of Social Security’s Full Retirement Age on the Economic Well-Being of Older Americans

Infant Health and the Inter-generational Effects of Early Cash Transfers