RABBITT, MATTHEW P., Ph.D. Three Essays in Health and Nutrition Economics. 
         (2014) 
         Directed by Dr. David C. Ribar. 178 pp. 
                            
          
            This dissertation focuses on aspects of behavior and public policy related to 
         vulnerable populations.  The first essay, coauthored with Christian Gregory and David C. 
         Ribar, reviews recent theory and empirical evidence regarding the effect of Supplemental 
         Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation on food insecurity and replicates the 
         modelling strategies used in the empirical literature.  We find that recent evidence 
         suggesting the ameliorative effect of SNAP on food insecurity may not be robust to 
         specification choice or data.  Most specifications mirror the existing literature in finding a 
         positive association of food insecurity with SNAP participation.  Two-stage least squares 
         and control function methods do show that SNAP reduces food insecurity, but effects are 
         not consistent across sub-populations and are not always statistically significant. 
            In the second essay, I examine the relationship between SNAP participation and 
         food insecurity using data from the 2001-2008 Current Population Survey (CPS-FSS).  A 
         behavioral Rasch selection model is proposed and estimated using four subsamples of 
         low-income households: unmarried parent households, married parent households, all-
         elderly households, and other adult-only households.  The behavioral Rasch selection 
         model assumes responses to multiple food hardship questions may be modelled as 
         indicators of a single underlying index of food hardships, and concurrently, controls for 
         the endogeneity of program participation.  Simultaneously modelling the outcomes this 
         way leads to more efficient estimation.  The models are identified using exogenous 
         changes in state-level polices related to SNAP.  The results suggest that SNAP has a 
                                              
         strong ameliorative effect on food insecurity for married parent households, all-elderly 
         households, and other adult-only households, while SNAP continues to be associated 
         with greater food hardships for unmarried parent households.  Participating in SNAP 
         reduces the probability of food insecurity by 22.4% for other adult-only households, 18% 
         for all-elderly households, and 17% for married parent households. 
            The third and final essay examines the relationship between underage college 
         drinking and the initial occupational choices of male college graduates using data from 
         the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97).  Focusing on recent college 
         graduates and their initial occupational choices allows me to address important timing 
         issues not considered by the existing literature.  For the multivariate analyses, I estimate 
         multinomial logistic models of occupational choice, where the occupational choice set is 
         specified as employed full-time in white collar occupations, other occupations, enrolled 
         in school, and neither in school nor employed full-time.  In addition, I estimate 
         multinomial logistic selection models that control for the potential endogeneity of 
         underage drinking.  The results suggest underage college drinking is not associated with 
         young men’s initial occupational choices, with the exception of the decision to be 
         enrolled in school.  Young men with any underage college days where they drank two or 
         more drinks are 28.9% less likely to be enrolled in school after completing a bachelor’s 
         degree. 
                      
                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                             
                                                                              THREE ESSAYS IN HEALTH AND 
                                                                                                             
                                                                                     NUTRITION ECONOMICS 
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                          by 
                                                                                                             
                                                                                             Matthew P. Rabbitt 
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                      A Dissertation Submitted to 
                                                                              the Faculty of The Graduate School at 
                                                                      The University of North Carolina at Greensboro 
                                                                                            in Partial Fulfillment 
                                                                                of the Requirements for the Degree 
                                                                                           Doctor of Philosophy 
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                   Greensboro 
                                                                                                        2014 
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                 Approved by 
                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                 Committee Chair 
                                                                                     
                                              
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                      © 2014 Matthew P. Rabbitt