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The effect of child support on the labor supply of custodial mothers participating in TANF

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  • Cuesta, Laura
  • Cancian, Maria

Abstract

Child support is a critical source of income, especially for the growing proportion of children born to unmarried mothers. Current social policy supports custodial parent employment (e.g., the Earned Income Tax Credit [EITC] and other work supports have largely taken the place of an entitlement to cash assistance for single mothers of young children). Given many single mothers' limited earnings potential, child support from noncustodial fathers is also important. This raises questions about the effects of child support on custodial mothers' labor supply, and whether policies that increase child support receipt will thereby discourage mothers' employment. This paper addresses these questions, taking advantage of data from a statewide randomized experiment conducted in Wisconsin. Unlike previous nonexperimental research, we do not find any negative effect of child support on the likelihood to work for pay or the number of hours worked in a given week. Recent U.S. social welfare policies have focused on increasing both custodial mothers' child support collections and their labor supply. The results suggest that these may be compatible policies; the absence of a negative labor supply effect strengthens the potential antipoverty effectiveness of child support.

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  • Cuesta, Laura & Cancian, Maria, 2015. "The effect of child support on the labor supply of custodial mothers participating in TANF," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 49-56.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:54:y:2015:i:c:p:49-56
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.05.006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John W. Graham & Andrea H. Beller, 1989. "The Effect of Child Support Payments on the Labor Supply of Female Family Heads: An Econometric Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(4), pages 664-688.
    2. Moffitt, Robert, 1983. "An Economic Model of Welfare Stigma," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 1023-1035, December.
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    4. Moffitt, Robert, 1986. "The Econometrics of Piecewise-Linear Budget Constraints: A Survey and Exposition of the Maximum Likelihood Method," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 4(3), pages 317-328, July.
    5. Wei-Yin Hu, 1999. "Child Support, Welfare Dependency, and Women's Labor Supply," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(1), pages 71-103.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marisa Bucheli & Andrea Vigorito, 2017. "Separation, Child Support and Well-Being in Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0317, Department of Economics - dECON.
    2. Rossin-Slater, Maya & Wüst, Miriam, 2018. "Parental responses to child support obligations: Evidence from administrative data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 183-196.
    3. Marisa Bucheli & Andrea Vigorito, 2021. "Short- and Medium-term Effects of Parental Separation on Children’s Well-being. Evidence from Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 21-09, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    4. Awortwe, Victoria & Bentum, Hajara & Cudjoe, Ebenezer & Abdullah, Alhassan, 2020. "A reason for the unmet needs of children in contact with social services? Non-resident fathers’ perspectives on delinquent child maintenance claims," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    5. Rachael A. Spencer & Emily D. Lemon & Kelli A. Komro & Melvin D. Livingston & Briana Woods-Jaeger, 2022. "Women’s Lived Experiences with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): How TANF Can Better Support Women’s Wellbeing and Reduce Intimate Partner Violence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-27, January.
    6. Bucheli, Marisa & Vigorito, Andrea, 2019. "Union dissolution and well-being in Uruguay," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 61-71.
    7. Laura Cuesta & Mia Hakovirta & Merita Jokela, 2018. "The Antipoverty Effectiveness of Child Support: Empirical Evidence for Latin American Countries," LIS Working papers 748, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    8. Marisa Bucheli & Andrea Vigorito, 2021. "Short-and Medium-term Effects of Parental Separation on Children’s Well-Being. Evidence from Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0721, Department of Economics - dECON.
    9. Ilyar Heydari Barardehi & Patryk Babiarz & Teresa Mauldin, 2020. "Child Support, Consumption, and Labor Supply Decisions of Single-Mother Families," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 530-541, September.

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