The Center for Positive/Empirical Analysis of Political Economy invited Associate Professor Tansel Yilmazer (the Department of Consumer Sciences at the Ohio State University) to present on April 20, 2023, a seminar for graduate students on The Affordable Care Act, Marriage Penalties, and Marital Status (joint with Dr. Lauren Jones and Dr. Guangyi Wang).
Associate Professor Yilmazer is a member of the editorial board of Review of Economics of the Household.
Profile of Associate Professor Tansel Yilmazer
Here is a report from one of the participants:
Dr. Yilmazer discussed with participants, including graduate students and faculty conducting empirical research, the study that approaches the causal relationship between the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is related to the US health insurance system, and marriage in collaboration with Dr. Lauren Jones and Dr. Guangyi Wang. She defined the difference in monetary benefits related to the ACA system when married and when not married as a marriage penalty and showed that an increase in the marriage penalty decreases the probability of a couple’s marriage.
Being a study on a US system, the content and issues discussed were unfamiliar to many participants. However, with her thorough explanation and clear, easy-to-understand graphs, the participants were able to better understand the system and the research design. Furthermore, the participants learned that even in situations where only limited data exist, such as when there is a lot of unobservable information, it is possible to conduct research that can lead to rich policy implications through various innovative ideas such as using simulated data calculated based on previous research.
Through the seminar, participants gained insights and learned many things, including the importance of the impact of the country’s systems on people’s life events and how to design the research framework to analyze it.
Associate Professor Tansel Yilmazer
Report: Hayato Kanayama (1st year master student, Graduate School of Economics)/ Hideo Owan (Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics)
