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Unintended consequences of welfare reform for children with single parents: a theoretical analysis

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  • Marco Francesconi
  • Helmut Rainer
  • Wilbert Klaauw

Abstract

This paper formulates a model to examine the effects of changes in tax-benefit policy on the behavior of divorced parents and the well-being of children in single-parent households. Noncustodial parents choose the level of a child support payment to transfer to custodians. These, in turn, decide over child good expenditures and the allocation of time between market work and parenting. Our main finding shows that welfare policies that subsidize childcare expenditures or reduce withdrawal rates, which are most certainly intended to improve the conditions of working single parents and their children, could actually have the reverse effect. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

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  • Marco Francesconi & Helmut Rainer & Wilbert Klaauw, 2015. "Unintended consequences of welfare reform for children with single parents: a theoretical analysis," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 709-733, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:13:y:2015:i:3:p:709-733
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-013-9226-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Tilak Sanyal & Vivekananda Mukherjee, 2019. "On General and Specific Transfers for Child Support in Divorce," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 17(1), pages 197-213, March.
    2. Marc Jourdain Muizon, 2020. "Subsidies for parental leave and formal childcare: be careful what you wish for," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 735-772, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Divorced parents; Tax-benefit policy; Child care; Child support; D13; H31; J22;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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