Molnar's dissertations consists of three chapters in family economics and child development, economics of education and health economics. First, she investigates how parents choose the amount of quality time spent with their children, and why higher-educated parents spend more. She proposes and confirms the mechanism of higher-educated parents being more efficient in translating time with their children into child human capital. Second, Molnar measures the causal impact of academic redshirting on student achievement and mental health. Redshirting is the practice of postponing school entry of an age-eligible, but potentially not school-ready child. She shows that disadvantaged boys are the main beneficiaries of this practice. Third, Molnar and co-authors study to what extent US private insurers benchmark to the corresponding Medicare price, when negotiating on how much to pay to doctors for a given medical service. In their data, 75% of physician services, representing 55% of spending, are directly linked to Medicare.

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