McCann Nicole C, Dean Lorraine T, Bovell-Ammon Allison, Ettinger de Cuba Stephanie, Green Tiffany, Shafer Paul R, Raifman Julia
Department of Health Law, Policy, and Management, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, United States.
Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States.
Health Aff Sch. 2024 Jan 31;2(2):qxae011. doi: 10.1093/haschl/qxae011. eCollection 2024 Feb.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought increases in economic shocks due to poor health and lost employment, which reduced economic well-being, especially in households with children. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments to include eligibility for the lowest income households, boosted benefit levels, and provided monthly advance payments to households with children. Using Census Household Pulse Survey respondent data from January 2021 to July 2022, we evaluated the association between these advance CTC monthly payments and food insufficiency among households with children experiencing health- or employment-related economic shocks (defined as missed work due to COVID-19/other illness or COVID-19-related employer closure/layoff/furlough). Using a triple difference design, we found that the advance CTC was associated with greater reductions in food insufficiency among households with children experiencing economic shocks both compared with households without children and with households with children not experiencing economic shocks. Permanently expanding the advance CTC could create resilience to economic shocks during disease outbreaks, climate disasters, and recessions.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行因健康状况不佳和失业导致经济冲击增加，这降低了经济福祉，尤其是有子女家庭。2021年的《美国救援计划法案》扩大了儿童税收抵免（CTC）支付范围，将最低收入家庭纳入资格范围，提高了福利水平，并向有子女家庭提供月度预付款。利用2021年1月至2022年7月的人口普查家庭脉搏调查受访者数据，我们评估了这些提前的儿童税收抵免月度支付与经历与健康或就业相关经济冲击（定义为因COVID-19/其他疾病或与COVID-19相关的雇主关闭/裁员/休假而缺勤）的有子女家庭的粮食不足之间的关联。使用三重差分设计，我们发现，与没有子女的家庭以及没有经历经济冲击的有子女家庭相比，提前的儿童税收抵免与经历经济冲击的有子女家庭的粮食不足减少幅度更大有关。永久扩大提前的儿童税收抵免可以在疾病爆发、气候灾难和衰退期间增强对经济冲击的抵御能力。
