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This paper estimates the effects of Jamaica's elimination of user fees in public health facilities on the health and labor supply of working-age individuals. The policy change affected about 83 percent of the population, that is, those who lack health insurance and mainly rely on the public health system. The analysis finds no effects among individuals younger than 40 years old. However, for individuals within the 40-64 age range, the analysis finds that the policy reduced the number of lost days due to illness by 44.3 percent. No effects were found on employment or labor formality at the extensive margin. However, consistent with a reduced number of lost days, the analysis identified a positive effect on labor supply at the intensive margin equivalent to 3.04 weekly hours. Finally, overall benefits are relatively stronger for women, thereby reducing the observed baseline disadvantages relative to men., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study analyses the effects of exposure to tropical storms and hurricanes during pregnancy on children's anthropometric measures taken within the first five years of life. We merge destruction indexes calculated at the district level with 13 yearly rounds of household level surveys from Jamaica. The empirical strategy exploits variation arising from the storms' timing and intensity across different cohorts within the same district. The findings rule out medium-to-large overall adverse effects of tropical storms. However, when expectant mothers living in coastal-rural areas are affected by the cumulative destruction of two hurricanes, their children experience negative impacts on both weight-for-age and weight-for-height measures., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)