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June 2020 (Volume 98)
Quarterly Article
Emilie Courtin
Sooyoung Kim
Shanshan Song
Wenya Yu
Peter Muennig
Sep 2, 2026
Aug 19, 2026
Jun 29, 2026
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Policy Points:
Context: Insurers and health care providers are investing heavily in nonmedical social interventions in an effort to improve health and potentially reduce health care costs.
Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta‐analysis of all known randomized social experiments in the United States that included health outcomes. We reviewed 5,880 papers, reports, and data sources, ultimately including 61 publications from 38 randomized social experiments. After synthesizing the main findings narratively, we conducted risk of bias analyses, power analyses, and random‐effects meta‐analyses where possible. Finally, we used multivariate regressions to determine which study characteristics were associated with statistically significant improvements in health outcomes.
Findings: The risk of bias was low in 17 studies, moderate in 11, and high in 33. Of the 451 parameter estimates reported, 77% were underpowered to detect health outcomes. Among adequately powered parameters, 49% demonstrated a significant health improvement, 44% had no effect on health, and 7% were associated with significant worsening of health. In meta‐analyses, early life and education interventions were associated with a reduction in smoking (odds ratio [OR] = 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.86‐0.99). Income maintenance and health insurance interventions were associated with significant improvements in self‐rated health (OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.06‐1.36, and OR = 1.38, 95% CI 1.10‐1.73, respectively), whereas some welfare‐to‐work interventions had a negative impact on self‐rated health (OR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.66‐0.90). Housing and neighborhood trials had no effect on the outcomes included in the meta‐analyses. A positive effect of the trial on its primary socioeconomic outcome was associated with higher odds of reporting health improvements. We found evidence of publication bias for studies with null findings.
Conclusions: Early life, income, and health insurance interventions have the potential to improve health. However, many of the included studies were underpowered to detect health effects and were at high or moderate risk of bias. Future social policy experiments should be better designed to measure the association between interventions and health outcomes.
Keywords: social experiments, randomized controlled trials, policy analysis, population health, social determinants of health.
Read on Wiley Online Library
Published March 2020 DOI: 10.1111/1468-0009.12451
Published June 14, 2020. COVID-19 is demonstrating just how much poverty can affect health. In this episode of The Milbank Quarterly’s podcast, Emilie Courtin of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Peter Muennig of Columbia University, discuss their June Milbank Quarterly article, which systematically reviewed all known randomized social policy experiments in the United States that included health outcomes. Their work found that early life, income-related, and health insurance policies all have the potential to improve health. Read the transcript. Visit our podcast page to subscribe through Spotify or other listening platforms.