Working Papers
Jones, Damon, David Molitor, and Julian Reif. 2024. “Incentives and Habit Formation in Health Screenings: Evidence from the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study.” NBER Working Paper 32745.
Miller, Nolan, David Molitor, and Eric Zou. 2024. “The Nonlinear Effects of Air Pollution on Health: Evidence from Wildfire Smoke.” NBER Working Paper 32924.
Keiser, David, Bhash Mazumder, David Molitor, and Joseph Shapiro. 2023. “Water Works: Causes and Consequences of Safe Drinking Water in America.” Mimeo.
Carey, Colleen, Nolan Miller, and David Molitor. 2022. “Why Does Disability Insurance Enrollment Increase During Recessions? Evidence from Medicare.” NBER Working Paper 29988.
Borgschulte, Mark, David Molitor, and Eric Zou. 2022. “Air Pollution and the Labor Market: Evidence from Wildfire Smoke.” NBER Working Paper 29952.
Publications
NBER Working Paper 31990. Molitor, David, and Corey White. 2023. “Do Cities Mitigate or Exacerbate Environmental Damages to Health?” Regional Science and Urban Economics, 107: 103973.
Keiser, David, Bhash Mazumder, David Molitor, Joseph Shapiro, and Brant Walker. 2024. “Do Earmarks Target Low-Income and Minority Communities? Evidence from US Drinking Water.” AEA Papers and Proceedings, 114: 36-40.
Molitor, David, Jamie T. Mullins, and Corey White. 2023. “Air Pollution and Suicide in Rural and Urban America: Evidence from Wildfire Smoke.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(38): e2221621120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221621120.
Deryugina, Tatyana, and David Molitor. 2021. “The Causal Effects of Place on Health and Longevity.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 35(4): 147–70.
Heutel, Garth, Nolan H. Miller, and David Molitor. 2021. “Adaptation and the Mortality Effects of Temperature Across U.S. Climate Regions.” The Review of Economics and Statistics, 103(4): 740–753.
Deryugina, Tatyana, Nolan H. Miller, David Molitor, and Julian Reif. 2021. “Geographic and Socioeconomic Heterogeneity in the Benefits of Reducing Air Pollution in the United States.” Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, 2021, 2(1): 157–189.
Deryugina, Tatyana, and David Molitor. 2020. “Does When You Die Depend on Where You Live? Evidence from Hurricane Katrina.” American Economic Review, 110(11): 3602–33.
Zou E, Worsham C, Miller NH, Molitor D, Reif J, Jena AB. “Emergency Visits for Thunderstorm-Related Respiratory Illnesses Among Older Adults.” JAMA Intern Med. 2020;180(9):1248-1250. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.1672.
Importance Many employers use workplace wellness programs to improve employee health and reduce medical costs, but randomized evaluations of their efficacy are rare.
Objective To evaluate the effect of a comprehensive workplace wellness program on employee health, health beliefs, and medical use after 12 and 24 months.
Design, Setting, and Participants This randomized clinical trial of 4834 employees of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was conducted from August 9, 2016, to April 26, 2018. Members of the treatment group (n = 3300) received incentives to participate in the workplace wellness program. Members of the control group (n = 1534) did not participate in the wellness program. Statistical analysis was performed on April 9, 2020.
Interventions The 2-year workplace wellness program included financial incentives and paid time off for annual on-site biometric screenings, annual health risk assessments, and ongoing wellness activities (eg, physical activity, smoking cessation, and disease management).
Main Outcomes and Measures Measures taken at 12 and 24 months included clinician-collected biometrics (16 outcomes), administrative claims related to medical diagnoses (diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia) and medical use (office visits, inpatient visits, and emergency department visits), and self-reported health behaviors and health beliefs (14 outcomes).
Results Among the 4834 participants (2770 women; mean [SD] age, 43.9 [11.3] years), no significant effects of the program on biometrics, medical diagnoses, or medical use were seen after 12 or 24 months. A significantly higher proportion of employees in the treatment group than in the control group reported having a primary care physician after 24 months (1106 of 1200 [92.2%] vs 477 of 554 [86.1%]; adjusted P = .002). The intervention significantly improved a set of employee health beliefs on average: participant beliefs about their chance of having a body mass index greater than 30, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and impaired glucose level jointly decreased by 0.07 SDs (95%CI, −0.12 to −0.01 SDs; P = .02); however, effects on individual belief measures were not significant.
Conclusions and Relevance This randomized clinical trial showed that a comprehensive workplace wellness program had no significant effects on measured physical health outcomes, rates of medical diagnoses, or the use of health care services after 24 months, but it increased the proportion of employees reporting that they have a primary care physician and improved employee beliefs about their own health.
Reif J, Chan D, Jones D, Payne L, Molitor D. “Effects of a Workplace Wellness Program on Employee Health, Health Beliefs, and Medical Use: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” JAMA Intern Med. 2020;180(7):952–960. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.1321.
Deryugina, Tatyana, Garth Heutel, Nolan H. Miller, David Molitor, and Julian Reif. 2019. “The Mortality and Medical Costs of Air Pollution: Evidence from Changes in Wind Direction.” American Economic Review, 109(12): 4178–4219.
Jones, Damon, David Molitor, and Julian Reif. 2019. “What do Workplace Wellness Programs do? Evidence from the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(4): 1747–1791.
Agha, Leila, and David Molitor. 2018. “The Local Influence of Pioneer Investigators on Technology Adoption: Evidence from New Cancer Drugs.” The Review of Economics and Statistics, 100(1): 29–44.
Molitor, David. 2018. “The Evolution of Physician Practice Styles: Evidence from Cardiologist Migration.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 10(1): 326–56.
Objective To study the relation between rainfall and outpatient visits for joint or back pain in a large patient population.
Design Observational study.
Setting US Medicare insurance claims data linked to rainfall data from US weather stations.
Participants 1 552 842 adults aged ≥65 years attending a total of 11 673 392 outpatient visits with a general internist during 2008–12.
Main outcome measures The proportion of outpatient visits for joint or back pain related conditions (rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, spondylosis, intervertebral disc disorders, and other non-traumatic joint disorders) was compared between rainy days and non-rainy days, adjusting for patient characteristics, chronic conditions, and geographic fixed effects (thereby comparing rates of joint or back pain related outpatient visits on rainy days versus non-rainy days within the same area).
Results Of the 11 673 392 outpatient visits by Medicare beneficiaries, 2 095 761 (18.0%) occurred on rainy days. In unadjusted and adjusted analyses, the difference in the proportion of patients with joint or back pain between rainy days and non-rainy days was significant (unadjusted, 6.23% v 6.42% of visits, P<0.001; adjusted, 6.35% v 6.39%, P=0.05), but the difference was in the opposite anticipated direction and was so small that it is unlikely to be clinically meaningful. No statistically significant relation was found between the proportion of claims for joint or back pain and the number of rainy days in the week of the outpatient visit. No relation was found among a subgroup of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Conclusion In a large analysis of older Americans insured by Medicare, no relation was found between rainfall and outpatient visits for joint or back pain. A relation may still exist, and therefore larger, more detailed data on disease severity and pain would be useful to support the validity of this commonly held belief.
Jena Anupam B, Olenski Andrew R, Molitor David, Miller Nolan. 2017. “Association between rainfall and diagnoses of joint or back pain: retrospective claims analysis.” BMJ, 359: j5326.
Work in Progress
With Alden Cheng, Damon Jones, and Julian Reif
Other Writing
With Mark Borgschulte and Eric Zou
SIEPR Policy Brief, December 2022
With Mark Borgschulte and Eric Zou
IZA World of Labor, November 2022
With Julian Reif
Institute of Government and Public Affairs, October 2021
With Damon Jones and Julian Reif
American Journal of Health Promotion, February 2020
With Damon Jones and Julian Reif
Scientific American, March 2019
With Garth Heutel and Nolan Miller
The Conversation, January 2018
With Leila Agha
SIEPR Policy Brief, June 2013