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The Incentive Effects of Cash Transfers to the Poor

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Aizer
  • Shari Eli
  • Adriana Lleras-Muney

Abstract

All redistributive and social insurance programs trade off the potential benefits of transfers with the disincentives these programs generate. We investigate this trade-off using newly collected lifetime data for 16,000 women who applied to the Mothers’ Pension Program, the first cash transfer program in the US. In the short-run cash transfers reduced geographic mobility and delayed marriage of recipients but did not affect who they married or where they moved to. In the long run transfers had no effect on work, marriage or fertility behaviors. They also did not improve the economic conditions of recipients or their longevity.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Aizer & Shari Eli & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2020. "The Incentive Effects of Cash Transfers to the Poor," NBER Working Papers 27523, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27523
    Note: AG CH DAE EH LS PE
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    Cited by:

    1. Chiara Malavasi & Han Ye, 2024. "Live Longer and Healthier: Impact of Pension Income for Low-Income Retirees," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_514v2, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    2. Gordon B. Dahl & Runjing Lu & William Mullins, 2022. "Partisan Fertility and Presidential Elections," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 473-490, December.
    3. Adriana Lleras‐Muney, 2022. "Education and income gradients in longevity: The role of policy," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 5-37, February.
    4. repec:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_514 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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