Publications

Conlin, M., K. Harris-Lagoudakis, C. Haughey, S. Jung, and H. Wich. (2024). The New Normal: Grocery Shopping Behavior Changes before and after the COVID-19 Vaccine. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 1–24. [Published Article]

This paper explores the relationship between healthcare utilization and groundwater contamination due to hydraulic fracturing on the Eagle Ford Shale formation in Texas. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, I find that inpatient claims for conditions plausibly related to groundwater water contamination increase by 8.9 percent in shale counties after the entry of hydraulic fracturing, relative to just outside the shale formation. However, this increase could be driven by population-level compositional changes due to an influx of new workers drawn to the area for employment opportunities. I therefore construct a novel dataset that combines public water source information with healthcare claims and oil and natural gas well permit data to show that counties with unconventional drilling within one kilometer of a public groundwater source experience larger increases in healthcare utilization than those without unconventional drilling near their public water source. This finding cannot be driven by compositional changes, and suggests that hydraulic-fracturing-related healthcare utilization is tied to drinking water contamination. [Working paper]

With Bradley Crowe and Graham Gardner

Revise and resubmit at Journal of Health Economics

Contraception and abortion both result in fertility reductions but identifying if they are substitutes remains an open question. Using administrative outpatient records from Texas, we exploit the passage of House Bill 2 (HB2), which imposed strict regulations on abortion providers, to identify the effects of restricted abortion access on the timing and demand for intrauterine devices (IUDs) and vasectomies using an event study design. We find evidence that expectations of limited abortion access significantly increase the demand for IUDs, with no substantial evidence of an effect for the incidence of vasectomies. These findings support the hypothesis that abortion and contraception are substitutes, particularly for individuals with the capacity to become pregnant. [Working paper]