The Impact of Youth Medicaid Eligibility on Adult Incarceration
研究发现1990年扩大青少年医疗补助资格的政策，使黑人儿童成年后因经济动机犯罪入狱的概率降低5%，而其他种族儿童无此效果，表明公共健康保险具有减少犯罪的溢出效应。
This paper identifies an important spillover associated with public health insurance: reduced incarceration. In 1990, Congress passed legislation that increased Medicaid eligibility for individuals born after September 30, 1983. We show that Black children born just after the cutoff are 5 percent less likely to be incarcerated by age 28, driven primarily by a decrease in incarcerations connected to financially motivated offenses. Children of other races, who experienced almost no gain in Medicaid coverage as a result of the policy, demonstrate no such decline. We find that reduced incarceration in adulthood substantially offsets the initial costs of expanding eligibility.