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Welfare Reform and Non-Marital Fertility in the 1990s: Evidence from Birth Records

Author

Listed:
  • Joyce Ted

    (Baruch College, City University of NY)

  • Kaestner Robert

    (University of Illinois at Chicago)

  • Korenman Sanders

    (Baruch College, CUNY and NBER)

Abstract

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act dramatically altered the economic incentive to bear children out-of-wedlock for economically disadvantaged women or couples most likely to avail themselves of welfare programs. We use data from vital statistics and a difference-in-differences research design to investigate whether state and federal welfare reform in the 1990s reduced rates of non-marital childbearing among women aged 19 to 39 at highest risk of welfare use, relative to women at lower risk. We find little consistent evidence for an effect of welfare reform on non-marital childbearing. This finding is similar to the literature that found little or mixed evidence for an effect of AFDC benefits. If anything, federal welfare reform has been associated with a small positive effect of two to three percent for white and black women ages 19 to 39.

Suggested Citation

  • Joyce Ted & Kaestner Robert & Korenman Sanders, 2003. "Welfare Reform and Non-Marital Fertility in the 1990s: Evidence from Birth Records," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-36, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:advances.3:y:2003:i:1:n:6
    DOI: 10.2202/1538-0637.1108
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    Cited by:

    1. Makayla Palmer, 2020. "Does publicly subsidized health insurance affect the birth rate?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(1), pages 70-121, July.
    2. repec:lan:wpaper:2161 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Ohinata, Asako, "undated". "FERTILITY RESPONSE TO FINANCIAL INCENTIVES: Evidence from the Working Families Tax Credit in the UK," Economic Research Papers 269849, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    4. Kearney, Melissa S. & Levine, Phillip B., 2015. "Investigating recent trends in the U.S. teen birth rate," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 15-29.
    5. repec:lan:wpaper:2415 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:lan:wpaper:2159 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Alma Cohen & Rajeev Dehejia & Dmitri Romanov, 2007. "Do Financial Incentives Affect Fertility?," NBER Working Papers 13700, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Parada, Cecilia, 2024. "Fertility responses to cash transfers in Uruguay," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    9. Melissa Schettini Kearney & Phillip B. Levine, 2012. "Explaining Recent Trends in the U.S. Teen Birth Rate," NBER Working Papers 17964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Leonard M. Lopoo & Kerri M. Raissian, 2014. "U.S. Social Policy and Family Complexity," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 654(1), pages 213-230, July.
    11. Santiago Garganta & Leonardo Gasparini & Mariana Marchionni & Mariano Tappatá, 2017. "The Effect of Cash Transfers on Fertility: Evidence from Argentina," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 36(1), pages 1-24, February.
    12. Paul Bingley & Ian Walker, 2013. "The labour supply effects of a partial cash-out of in-kind transfers to single mothers," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-27, December.
    13. repec:lan:wpaper:2277 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. repec:lan:wpaper:599359 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Korenman Sanders & Joyce Ted & Kaestner Robert & Walper Jennifer, 2006. "What Did the "Illegitimacy Bonus" Reward?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-36, April.
    16. Andrea Kutinova & Karen Smith Conway, 2008. "What about Mom? The Forgotten Beneficiary of the Medicaid Expansions," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(4), pages 1070-1104, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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