Abstract-We use data from the 1993 and 1998 National Surveys of Small Business Finances to examine the existence of racial discrimination in the small-business credit market. We conduct an econometric analysis of loan outcomes by race and nd that black-owned small businesses are about twice as likely to be denied credit even after controlling for differences in creditworthiness and other factors. A series of speci cation checks indicates that this gap is unlikely to be explained by omitted variable bias. These results indicate that the racial disparity in credit availability is likely caused by discrimination.

This paper seeks to determine whether a causal relationship exists between maternal employment and childhood weight problems. We use matched mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and employ econometric techniques to control for observable and unobservable differences across individuals and families that may influence both children's weight and their mothers' work patterns. Our results indicate that a child is more likely to be overweight if his/her mother worked more hours per week over the child's life. Analyses by subgroups show that it is higher socioeconomic status mothers whose work intensity is particularly deleterious for their children's overweight status.

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for helping to shape this article. Any views expressed are those of the authors alone. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

and Wellesley College offered helpful comments. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the University of Maryland Department of Economics and Wellesley College that enabled us to purchase the data used in this paper. Nielsen ratings data used in this project are proprietary and cannot be shared. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

summer meeting. We are also grateful to Joe Hotz and Rebecca Kilburn for sharing their data on state childcare regulations. Rachel Roth provided research assistance through the Presidential Scholars program at Dartmouth College. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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This paper assesses the impact of policies to increase insurance coverage for young adults. The introduction of SCHIP in 1997 enabled low-income teens up to age 19 to gain access to public health insurance. More recent policies enabled young adults between the ages of 19 and (typically) 24 to remain covered under their parents' health insurance. We use the discrete break in coverage at age 19 to evaluate the impact of SCHIP, and quasi-experimental variation to evaluate the impact of “extended parental coverage” laws. Our results suggest that both types of policies were effective at increasing health insurance coverage. (JEL G22, H75, I18, J13)