Julien O. Teitler (Columbia University) Nancy E. Reichman (Robert Wood Johnson Medical School) Lenna Nepomnyaschy (Columbia University) Irwin Garfinkel (Columbia University)
Abstract
Despite interest in the potential of the welfare system as a tool to affect marriage behaviors among low-income women, little is known about how welfare participation affects decisions to marry. We employ an event history approach to examine transitions to marriage over a five-year period among mothers who have had a non-marital birth. We find that welfare participation under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF) reduces the likelihood of transitioning to marriage (hazard ratio is .67, p < .01), but only while the mother is receiving welfare. Once the mother leaves TANF, past receipt has little effect on marriage. We project that over an 18-year period, TANF participation results in at most a 4 to 5 percentage point reduction in marriage and a 16-month delay in marriage. We infer that the negative association between TANF participation and marriage reflects temporary economic disincentives or other short-term mechanisms rather than lasting effects on values and preferences.
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing. in its series Working Papers with number
933.