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The Effect of Welfare Payments on the Marriage and Fertility Behavior of Unwed Mothers: Results from a Twins Experiment

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Author Info
Jeff Grogger
Stephen G. Bronars

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Abstract

We study the relationship between welfare benefits and the time to first marriage and time to next birth among initially unwed mothers. We use twin births to generate random within-state variation in benefits, effectively controlling for unobservables that may confound the relationship between welfare payments and behavior. Higher base welfare benefits (1) lead unwed white mothers to forestall their eventual marriage and (2) lead unwed black mothers to hasten their next birth. The magnitudes of these effects are fairly modest. Moreover, we find no evidence that the marginal benefit paid at the birth of an additional childthe focus of the family cap debateaffects fertility.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by University of Chicago Press in its journal Journal of Political Economy.

Volume (Year): 109 (2001)
Issue (Month): 3 (June)
Pages: 529-545
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Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:109:y:2001:i:3:p:529-545

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Moffitt, Robert, 1992. "Incentive Effects of the U.S. Welfare System: A Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(1), pages 1-61, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Bronars, Stephen G & Grogger, Jeff, 1994. "The Economic Consequences of Unwed Motherhood: Using Twin Births as a Natural Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1141-56, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. P. K. Robins & P. Fronstin, . "Welfare benefits and family-size decisions of never-married women," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1022-93, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty. [Downloadable!]
  4. Hilary Williamson Hoynes, 1995. "Does Welfare Play Any Role in Female Headship Decisions?," NBER Working Papers 5149, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Jo Anna Gray & Jean Stockard & Joe Stone, 2004. "A Tale of Two Shares: The Relationship between the "Illegitimacy" Ratio and the Marriage Share," University of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers 2004-16, University of Oregon Economics Department, revised 01 Jun 2004. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Thomas J. Nechyba, 1999. "Social Approval, Values, and AFDC: A Re-Examination of the Illegitimacy Debate," NBER Working Papers 7240, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. David Johnson & Guyonne Kalb, 2002. "Economic Analyses of Families: Existing Research Findings," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2002n27, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  4. Joshua D. Angrist, 2003. "Treatment Effect Heterogeneity in Theory and Practice," NBER Working Papers 9708, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Jonathan F. Pingle, 2003. "What if welfare had no work requirements? the age of youngest child exemption and the rise in employment of single mothers," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2003-57, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  6. Wei-Yin Hu, 1999. "Marriage and Economic Incentives: Evidence from a Welfare Experiment," JCPR Working Papers 83, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
  7. Wendy Tanisha Dyer & Robert W. Fairlie, 2003. "Do Family Caps Reduce Out-of-Wedlock Births? Evidence from Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey and Virginia," Working Papers 877, Economic Growth Center, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
  8. Marianne P. Bitler & Jonah B. Gelbach & Hilary W. Hoynes & Madeline Zavodny, 2004. "The Impact of Welfare Reform on Marriage and Divorce," Working Papers 110, RAND Corporation Publications Department. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Jo Anna Gray & Jean Stockard & Joe Stone, 2004. "The Rising Share of Nonmarital Births: Fertility Choices or Marriage Behavior?," University of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers 2004-17, University of Oregon Economics Department, revised 01 Nov 2005. [Downloadable!]
  10. Aaron Yelowitz, 1996. "Why Did the SSI-Disabled Program Grow So Much? Disentangling the Effect of Medicaid," UCLA Economics Working Papers 748, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Ted Joyce & Robert Kaestner & Sanders Korenman & Stanley Henshaw, 2004. "Family Cap Provisions and Changes in Births and Abortions," NBER Working Papers 10214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Reagan Baughman & Stacy Dickert-Conlin, 2003. "Did Expanding the EITC Promote Motherhood?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 247-251, May. [Downloadable!]
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