| Economically vulnerable populations can draw assistance from both public programs and private family resources. In my dissertation, I explore this public-private interaction. My first chapter, and job market paper, examines it in the context of unemployment. I demonstrate that young workers receive informal insurance from their family when unemployed and evaluate to what extent family networks absorb declines in public insurance. My second chapter examines the public-private interaction in the context of wealth. I use a benefit cut to Social Security to measure the changes in net wealth transfers from parents to children. My final chapter examines the public-private interaction in the context of health. I analyze how disabled individuals secure health coverage when awaiting Medicare, finding that the crowd out of private coverage is dependent on who owns the plan---the disabled individual, or a spouse. |
