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Intra-household Allocation and the Mental Health of Children: Structural Estimation Analysis (1999)
BibTeX
@MISC{Davis99intra-householdallocation,
author = {By Morris Davis and Morris A. Davis and E. Michael Foster},
title = {Intra-household Allocation and the Mental Health of Children: Structural Estimation Analysis},
year = {1999}
}
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Abstract
: This paper estimates the structural parameters of a dynamic model where parents with one child periodically decide whether or not their child uses various mental health services. In this model, mental health services improve a child's mental health (which parents care about), however, mental health services may be costly to the parents both in terms of utility and household consumption. Using a panel data set collected as part of the Fort Bragg Mental Health Demonstration, we estimate the model with a maximum likelihood procedure that accounts for unobservable differences in mental health endowments of children, and, population heterogeneity in parental preferences and the effectiveness of mental health services. We estimate that parents experience relatively high disutility when a child uses mental health services, implying parents enroll their children in mental health services only if these services have multi-period effects on their child's mental health. Correspondingly, we fi...
Keyphrases
mental health mental health service structural estimation analysis intra-household allocation population heterogeneity fort bragg mental health demonstration dynamic model multi-period effect structural parameter panel data set parental preference high disutility mental health endowment maximum likelihood procedure household consumption various mental health service unobservable difference
