## Heterogeneous Treatment Effects of Medicaid and Efficient Policies: Evidence from the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment

• Abstract: This paper uses a cluster-robust generalized random forest method on the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment data to estimate the heterogeneous treatment effects of access to Medicaid on health care utilization, preventive care utilization, financial strain, and self-reported physical and mental health. Furthermore, I identify policy changes that prioritize providing Medicaid coverage to the subgroups that are likely to benefit the most. On average, the proposed reforms would improve the average probability of outpatient visits, preventive care use, overall health outcomes, having a personal doctor and clinic, and happiness by a range of 2% to 9% over a random assignment baseline. My findings help design Medicaid Section 1115 waivers.

## County Level Assessment of Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and Opioid Prescription Rate

Highlight: Prescription Drug Abuse Policy System (pdaps.org) puts this paper on their resources. http://pdaps.org/resources

• Abstract: I provide quantitative evidence of the impacts of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) on retail opioid prescribing behaviors employing three different identification strategies of difference-in-difference, double selection post-LASSO, and spatial difference-in-difference using county-level high dimensional panel data set from 2010 to 2017. I quantify spillovers on retail opioid prescribing behaviors and boarder swapping behavior among prescription opioid users.

• Abstract: This paper studies the gender-grade-gaps using unique administrative data that comprises the universe of students taking the 2017 university entrance examination in Afghanistan. We exploit the randomness in the variation of twin sibling’s birth order and use the difference-in-difference (DD) strategy to compare the average grade between the second-born female (within different-sex twins siblings) with the second-born male (within same-sex male twins siblings). In other words, we estimate counterfactual grade differences for a second-born female twin had she been born as a male child. We find gender-grade-gap exists. However, when we account for Afghanistan’s cultural rectitude of sending siblings to gender-specific schools using the triple difference-in-difference (DDD) strategy, we find the gender-grade-gap dilutes significantly. Our results indicate that the cultural stigma drives the gender-related performance heterogeneity and “not” the inherent biological differences in the abilities even for a highly conservative country like Afghanistan.

## Impact of Must-access Prescription Drug Monitoring Program on Prescription Opioid Overdose Death Rates

• Abstract: This paper develops causal evidence of the effectiveness of “must-access” PDPM laws in reducing prescription opioid overdose death rates relative to voluntary PDMP states. I find that PDMPs are ineffective in reducing prescription opioid overdose deaths overall, but the effects are heterogeneous across states with “must-access” PDMP states. I find that marijuana and naloxone access laws, poverty level, income, and education confound the impact of must-access PDMPs on prescription opioid overdose deaths.

## Can Productivity Spillovers Explain the Productivity-Compensation Gap with Alicia Plemmons

• Abstract: Historically, compensation and productivity steadily trended in sync with one another. Since the mid-1970s, these two measures have diverged, as productivity increases have outpaced compensation. This divergence is indicative as evidence for wage stagnation, rising income inequality, and the fading American Dream. We provide arguments on the productivity-compensation gap and illuminate possible explanations of whether and why the gap exists in different industries. Following the peer effect” literature, we hypothesize that workers are not always compensated for productivity spillovers. We confirm that the gap narrows once we account for productivity spillovers between bordering states as well as between trading states using spatially lagged X (SLX) models. The results vary across industries and provide insights for policy makers and firms about productivity and compensation patterns.

## Shale Revolution, Oil and Gas Prices, and Drilling Activities in the United States with Bingxin Li and Xiaoli Etienne

• Abstract: We investigate the interplay between energy prices and drilling activities in the United States and how this relationship has evolved in light of the shale revolution. Using connectedness indexes constructed on vector autoregressive models, we find that the linkage between exploration and drilling activities, measured by active rotary rigs in operation, and oil and gas prices in the US has strengthened since 2012. Oil prices played a dominant role in information transmission between drilling activities and energy prices. Since the mid-2010s, natural gas price variations have become an increasingly important channel through which external shocks affect the US energy sector. We further document that both the oil and gas industry’s drilling activities have become more responsive to price variations during the shale revolution.