title: Do Social and Economic Policies Influence Health? A Review.
abstract: Although social and economic policies are not considered part of health services infrastructure, such policies may influence health and disease by altering social determinants of health (SDH). We review social and economic policies in the US that have measured health outcomes among adults in four domains of SDH including housing and neighborhood, employment, family strengthening/marriage, and income supplementation. The majority of these policies target low-income populations. These social policies rarely consider health as their initial mission or outcomes. When measuring health, the programs document mental health and physical health benefits more than half the time, although some effects fade with time. We also find considerable segregation of program eligibility by gender and family composition. Policy makers should design future social policies to evaluate health outcomes using validated health measures; to target women more broadly across the socioeconomic spectrum; and to consider family caregiving responsibilities as ignoring them can have unintended health effects.
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1300 Second Street South, Minneapolis, MN 55454 (p) 612-625-8279 (f) 612-624-0315 (e) tosypuk@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Theresa L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Osypuk
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, Institute for Children, Youth and Family Policy, 415 South Street, MS035, Waltham, MA 02453 (p) 781-736-3912 (f) 781-736-3773 pamjoshi@brandeis.edu.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, Institute for Children, Youth and Family Policy, 415 South Street, MS035, Waltham, MA 02453 (p) 781-736-3837 (f)781-736-3905 kgeronim@brandeis.edu.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Geronimo
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, Institute for Children, Youth and Family Policy, 415 South Street, MS035, Waltham, MA 02453 (p) 781-736-3715 (f) 781-736-3773 dacevedo@brandeis.edu.
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Acevedo-Garcia
keywords: TANF; economic policy; employment; family strengthening; health; housing; housing mobility policy; income; income supplements; marriage; social determinants of health; social experiments; social policy