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The Impact of Welfare Reform on Marriage and Divorce

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Author Info
Marianne P. Bitler
Jonah B. Gelbach
Hilary W. Hoynes
Madeline Zavodny

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Abstract

The goal of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) was to end the dependency of needy parents on government benefits, in part by promoting marriage. The pre-reform welfare system was widely believed to discourage marriage because it primarily provided benefits to single mothers. However, welfare reform may have actually decreased the incentives to be married by giving women greater financial independence via the program's new emphasis on work. This paper uses Vital Statistics data on marriages and divorces during 1989-2000 to examine the role of welfare reform (state waivers and TANF implementation) and other state-level variables on flows into and out of marriage. The results indicate that welfare reform has led to fewer new divorces and fewer new marriages, although the latter result is sensitive to specification and data choice.

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Paper provided by RAND Corporation Publications Department in its series Working Papers with number 110.

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Length: 48 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2004
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Handle: RePEc:ran:wpaper:110

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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. Aaron Yelowitz, 1995. "The Medicaid Notch, Labor Supply and Welfare Participation: Evidence from Eligibility Expansions," UCLA Economics Working Papers 738, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. 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)
  3. Williamson Hoyne, Hilary, 1997. "Does welfare play any role in female headship decisions?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 89-117, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Jeff Grogger & Stephen G. Bronars, 1997. "The Effect of Welfare Payments on the Marriage and Fertility Behavior of Unwed Mothers: Results from a Twins Experiment," NBER Working Papers 6047, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Rebecca M. Blank, 2001. "Declining caseloads/increased work: what can we conclude about the effects of welfare reform?," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Sep, pages 25-36. [Downloadable!]
  6. Bennett, N.G. & Bloom, D.E. & Craig, P.H., 1989. "The Divergence Of Black And White Marriage Patterns," Discussion Papers 1989_22, Columbia University, Department of Economics.
  7. Ressler, Rand W & Waters, Melissa S, 2000. "Female Earnings and the Divorce Rate: A Simultaneous Equations Model," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 32(14), pages 1889-98, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Jane Waldfogel, 2000. "Understanding Young Women's Marriage Decisions: The Role of Labor and Marriage Market Conditions," NBER Working Papers 7510, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Robert F. Schoeni & Rebecca M. Blank, 2000. "What Has Welfare Reform Accomplished? Impacts on Welfare Participation, Employment, Income, Poverty, and Family Structure," Working Papers 00-02, RAND Corporation Publications Department. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Robert Moffitt, 2002. "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program," NBER Working Papers 8749, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Schultz, T.P., 1993. "Marital Status and Fertility in the United States: Welfare and Labor Market Effects," Papers 703, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
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  14. Dan T. Rosenbaum, 2000. "Taxes, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Marital Status," JCPR Working Papers 177, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
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  17. Marianne P. Bitler & Jonah B. Gelbach & Hilary W. Hoynes, 2003. "Some Evidence on Race, Welfare Reform, and Household Income," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 293-298, May. [Downloadable!]
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  20. A. S. Yelowitz, . "Will Extending Medicaid to Two-Parent Families Encourage Marriage?," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1118-97, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty. [Downloadable!]
  21. Marianne P. Bitler & Jonah B. Gelbach & Hilary W. Hoynes, 2002. "The Impact of Welfare Reform on Living Arrangements," NBER Working Papers 8784, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Jacob A. Klerman & Steven J. Haider, 2001. "A Stock-Flow Analysis of the Welfare Caseload: Insights from California Economic Conditions," Working Papers 01-02, RAND Corporation Publications Department. [Downloadable!]
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  26. Becker, Gary S & Landes, Elisabeth M & Michael, Robert T, 1977. "An Economic Analysis of Marital Instability," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(6), pages 1141-87, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(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. Gustavo J Bobonis, 2009. "The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Marriage and Divorce," Working Papers tecipa-359, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Fitzgerald, John M. & Ribar, David C., 2003. "Transitions in Welfare Participation and Female Headship," IZA Discussion Papers 895, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Herwig Immervoll & Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Claus Thustrup Kreiner & Nicolaj Verdelin, 2008. "An Evaluation of the Tax-Transfer Treatment of Married Couples in European Countries," EPRU Working Paper Series 08-03, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Shelly Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak, 2007. "The American Family and Family Economics," NBER Working Papers 12908, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Marco Francesconi & Helmut Rainer & Wilbert van der Klaauw, 2007. "The Effects of In-Work Benefit Reform in Britain on Couples: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 2980, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Francesconi, Marco & van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 2004. "The Consequences of ‘In-Work’ Benefit Reform in Britain: New Evidence from Panel Data," IZA Discussion Papers 1248, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  7. repec:ese:iserwp: is not listed on IDEAS
  8. Ian Walker & Yu Zhu, 2004. "Child Support and Partnership Dissolution: Evidence from the UK," Studies in Economics 0408, Department of Economics, University of Kent. [Downloadable!]
  9. Jeffrey Grogger & Lynn Karoly, 2007. "The Effects of Work-Conditioned Transfers on Marriage and Child Well-Being: A Review," NBER Working Papers 13485, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Ian Walker & Yu Zhu, 2004. "Child support liability and partnership dissolution," IFS Working Papers W04/18, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
  11. Michael Baker & Emily Hanna & Jasmin Kantarevic, 2003. "The Married Widow: Marriage Penalties Matter!," NBER Working Papers 9782, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Martin Dooley and Ross Finnie, 2006. "Welfare Policy, Language Group and the Duration of Lone Motherhood Spells," Department of Economics Working Papers 2006-03, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
  13. Joe A. Stone & JoAnnaGray, . "Race Differences in Cohort Effects on Nonmarital Fertility in the United States," University of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers 2008-5, University of Oregon Economics Department. [Downloadable!]
  14. Paul Bingley & Ian Walker, 2008. "The Labor Supply Effect of In-Kind Transfers," Working Papers 200820, Geary Institute, University College Dublin. [Downloadable!]
  15. Dan Anderberg, 2007. "Tax Credits, Income Support and Partnership Decisions," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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