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CHEPS-ECON Social Insurance Research Fellowship Program
Summer 2024
The Summer 2024 CHEPS-ECON Social Insurance Research Fellowship program will offer a $4,000-$5,000 per-student research stipend to selected undergraduate and master's student fellows for participation in an intensive summer (to early fall) applied economics research program.
Fellowships are funded by the Social Security Administration (via the University of Wisconsin-Madison) and will support student participation (1) in a Data Analytics Workshop covering coding/statistical software packages and large, nationally representative datasets that can be used to study the socioeconomic well-being and health of individuals served by the Social Security Administration, including persons with disabilities and retired individuals, (2) on a multigenerational research team tasked with carrying out an academic project related to social insurance policy, and (3) in writing a policy brief (targeted to policymakers and the public) based on the above-academic research project.
The fellowship is designed to provide a predoc research experience for students who are interested in social insurance research and pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics, Public Policy, Law & Economics, or Sociology.
Deadline: Tuesday, July 2, 2024
STATA/R Bootcamp Agenda
Organizer: Kyu Matsuzawa, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Oregon
Location: Heck Room (AL 625, inside 6th Floor Dean’s Suite)
Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.; 1 – 5 p.m.
Introduction
Intro to Bootcamp
- Goals, focuses
- Final project overview
Common datasets
- Sources
- Codebooks & Questionnaires
Intro to Stata
Create and recode variables
Use codebooks to create new variables
- Create variables (gen, egen)
- keep, inrange/inlist, and (&), or (|)
Check summary statistics
- sum, fre, tab, duplicates report
- codebook
- Miscoding of missing values
Coding of the key policy variable
Transform datasets
collapse and sample weights
Combine data sets: append and merge
reshape data sets
Regression analysis and visualization
reg, probit/dprobit, poisson
Factor variables and time-series operators: xi: reg i.var1*var2
Saving regression results: outreg
Basic graphs
Introduction to R
ggplot2
Getting Data
Dplyr/data.table (if time allows)
Replication Assignment Due
Social Insurance Research Workshop Agenda
Organized and Led By: Dr. Yang Liang, Assistant Professor of Economics & Assistant
Director of CHEPS
Location: Economics Department Conference Room (NH 324)
Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.; 1 – 5 p.m.
Introduction
Intro to Social Insurance (principles and objectives)
- Theory of consumption smoothing
- Why insurance is valued
Challenges in Insurance Markets
- Expected Utility Model
- Adverse Selection
- Moral Hazard
- Optimal Social Insurance
- Government Intervention in Insurance Market
Brief Introduction to Public Programs
- Unemployment Insurance (UI)
- Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
- Workers’ Compensation
- Medicare, Medicaid
Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.; 1 – 5 p.m.
Social Security
What is Social Security and How does it work?
- Program details (financing, eligibility, benefits calculation)
- AIME, PIA, FBA, EEA, DRC
Social Security and Retirement
- Theory and Evidence
- Implementation and Reforms
Discussion: Raise Taxes, Extend Base of Taxable Wages, Raise Retirement Age….
Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.; 1 – 5 p.m.
Unemployment Insurance, Disability Insurance, and Workers’ Compensation
Institutional Features of UI, DI, and WC
Comparison of UI, DI and WC
Duration Spell of Social Insurance Benefits
Moral Hazard of Social Insurance Programs
- UI (e.g., Meyer, 1989)
- DI (e.g., Parsons 1984, 1991; Gruber and Kubik, 1997)
- WC (e.g., Krueger 1991)
- Monday Effect
Costs and Benefits of Social Insurance to Firms
Implications for Program Reform
- Benefits generosity; Targeting; Experience Rating
Quasi-Experimental Analysis
- Diff-in-Diffs
- Regression Discontinuity
Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.; 1 – 5 p.m.
Health Insurance
An Overview of Health Insurance in the US
- Private Insurance
- Risk Pooling
- Tax Subsidy
- Medicare and Medicaid
- Uninsured
Health Insurance and Mobility (e.g., Madrian 1994)
Job Lock
Estimate the elasticity of demand for medical care
Medicaid for low-income mothers and children
CHIP
How does Medicaid affect health (evidence)
Medicaid Expansions and program evaluation (evidence)
Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.; 1 – 5 p.m.
Income Distribution and Welfare Programs
Income Distribution in the US, an overview
Relative Income Inequality
Poverty Rates
- Poverty line and Measurement
Welfare Policy in the US
- Cash Welfare Programs
- TANF, EITC, SSI
- In-kind programs: Food Stamps, Medicaid, Public Housing, Other Nutritional Programs
Moral Hazard Costs of Welfare Policy (for a Means-Tested Transfer System)
Time: 2:30 – 3:15 p.m.
Introduction to Social Insurance Research Project
Time: 2 p.m.
Social Insurance Research Project Meetings
Updates on ongoing research, including pitch, literature reviews, data overview, coding, econometric advice, results, interpretation of findings, assessment of ongoing multigenerational mentoring
Discussion of translational policy briefs