[2] One of Adriana Lleras-Muney’s most prestigious accomplishments has been the appointment of one of the 102 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
This award is regarded to be the highest honour granted by the United States Government in the fields of science and engineering for their independent research careers in their early stages.
[7] Adriana Lleras-Muney’s research interests include health, income, gender, economic development, determinants of fertility and education.
Compared to other developed countries, the US faces substantial gaps in health and mortality rates depending on socio-economic status.
[8] Adriana Lleras-Muney co-authored this article with Marianne Bertrand (Chicago Booth School of Business, CEPR, IZA and NBER), Sandra E. Black (University of Texas, Austin, NHH, ICA and NBER), Sissel Jensen (Norwegian School of Economics).
In order to reduce poverty the U.S. primarily supports those that are in need of aid by offering specific foods, shelter, insurance, etc.
In order to investigate this case, data and records of individual applicants were collected from the Mothers’ Pension program.
This investigation was conducted by tracking the lives of the children born between 1900 and 1925 from the families that received or were denied cash through the Mothers’ Pension program.
From aligning data alongside World War II enlistment records they were able to come to the result that cash transfers decreased the risk of children being underweight at the time of enrolment.
However, they believe that this link no longer exists, citing vast discrepancies between the percent of GDP spent on healthcare between developed countries as an example of diminishing marginal returns.
They assert that income, especially in the modern era, is relatively unimportant to the reduction of mortality rates as compared to institutional ability and political willingness to implement new technology.
What was concluded from this investigation was that skill depreciation plays an important role in fertility decisions and that there are clear differences between Black and White mothers.