Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item The effects of limiting access to abortion on domestic violence(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2020) Salemo, Katherine Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Isaac SwensenThis paper estimates the effect of access to abortion on the number of reported domestic violence victims using abortion clinic closures in the state of Texas that resulted from a statewide policy change. Results suggest that a decrease in access to abortion services causes a decrease in the number of reported intimate partner victims, though the evidence is weak. When analyzing the effects by relationship type, the results appear to be driven by victims with no legal ties to their offender, such as dating partners. The results indicate that a law enforcement agency that no longer has an abortion clinic within 100 miles reports 13.8% fewer dating partner victims. Because domestic violence crimes are vastly underreported and the data I use are exposed to this issue, the results could be due to a change in the frequency of the crime or a change in the decision to report the crime. This is the first paper to estimate this causal relationship, contributing to the literature by analyzing a policy that could have unintended impacts on victims of domestic violence.Item The effects of Medicaid expansion on special education enrollment(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2021) Schultz, Gunnar Marcus; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Wendy A. StockThis paper examines the effects of Medicaid eligibility on special education enrollment, exploiting variation in childhood Medicaid eligibility arising from the Medicaid expansions of the 1980s and 1990s. I find that these expansions led to increased special education enrollment rates, particularly among children with 'non-severe' disabilities. Further, I find evidence that the effects are largely concentrated in late elementary school. The results suggest that broadened public healthcare access promotes student welfare through improved evaluation and identification of children with disabilities, primarily among low-income children.