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Child Support Enforcement and Children's Consumption

Author

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  • Christine Hauser

    (Collegio Carlo Alberto and CHILD)

Abstract

Using CEX data from years before and after the enforcement policies were implemented, I isolate child- and mother-specific expenditure categories for unmarried mothers with and without child support and regress the ratio of mother to child expenditures over period dummies and mother and child characteristics. The results indicate a significant increase in this ratio for mothers receiving child support, supporting the model prediction. On the other hand, there is no observable change in that ratio for mothers not receiving child support suggesting that their behavior was, as expected, unaffected by the new laws.

Suggested Citation

  • Christine Hauser, 2008. "Child Support Enforcement and Children's Consumption," 2008 Meeting Papers 630, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed008:630
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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