The 2018 American Economic Journal Best Paper Award for AEJ: Economic Policy has been awarded to Professor David Simon and co-authors for their paper “Income, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Infant Health“
AEJ: Economic Policy
In “Income, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Infant Health,” authors Hilary Hoynes, Doug Miller, and David Simon evaluate the impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit on infant health outcomes. The EITC provides a tax credit to lower income working families, and the authors demonstrate that it increases average birth weights and decreases the incidence of low birth weights — especially among the newborns of African American mothers. The authors argue that the health benefits of nonhealth programs, such as the EITC, should be taken into account when discussing the U.S. social safety net. (AEJ: Economic Policy Vol. 7, No. 1, February 2015)