IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v54y2015icp49-56.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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.

Suggested Citation

  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740915001553
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.05.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Burtless, Gary & Hausman, Jerry A, 1978. "The Effect of Taxation on Labor Supply: Evaluating the Gary Negative Income Tax Experiments," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(6), pages 1103-1130, December.
    6. John W. Graham, 1990. "Child Support And Mothers‘ Employment," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 8(1), pages 95-109, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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).
    4. 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.
    5. Bucheli, Marisa & Vigorito, Andrea, 2019. "Union dissolution and well-being in Uruguay," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 61-71.
    6. 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.
    7. Marisa Bucheli & Andrea Vigorito, 2017. "Separation, Child Support and Well-Being in Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0317, Department of Economics - dECON.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Filip Premik, 2021. "Evaluating the 500+ child support program in Poland," GRAPE Working Papers 53, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    3. John Creedy & Guyonne Kalb, 2005. "Discrete Hours Labour Supply Modelling: Specification, Estimation and Simulation," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 697-734, December.
    4. Guyonne Kalb, 1998. "An Australian Model for Labour Supply and Welfare Participation in Two-Adult Households," Discussion Papers 0082, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    5. Filip Premik, 2022. "Evaluating Poland’s Family 500+ Child Support Programme," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 2, pages 1-19.
    6. Gan, Li & Ju, Gaosheng & Zhu, Xi, 2015. "Nonparametric estimation of structural labor supply and exact welfare change under nonconvex piecewise-linear budget sets," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 188(2), pages 526-544.
    7. Olmstead, Sheila M. & Michael Hanemann, W. & Stavins, Robert N., 2007. "Water demand under alternative price structures," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 181-198, September.
    8. David H. Greenberg & David Long & Daniel Meyer & Charles Michalopoulos & Philip K. Robins, 1995. "Using Microsimulation To Help Design Pilot Demonstrations," Evaluation Review, , vol. 19(6), pages 687-706, December.
    9. Keane, Michael, 2010. "The Tax-Transfer System and Labour Supply," MPRA Paper 55167, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Hoynes, Hilary Williamson & Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore, 2012. "Work incentives and the Food Stamp Program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 151-162.
    11. Michael P. Keane, 2011. "Labor Supply and Taxes: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 961-1075, December.
    12. Aaron Strong & V. Kerry Smith, 2010. "Reconsidering the Economics of Demand Analysis with Kinked Budget Constraints," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 86(1), pages 173-190.
    13. Emmanuel Saez, 2010. "Do Taxpayers Bunch at Kink Points?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 180-212, August.
    14. Blundell, Richard & Macurdy, Thomas, 1999. "Labor supply: A review of alternative approaches," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1559-1695, Elsevier.
    15. Hartley, Robert Paul & Lamarche, Carlos, 2018. "Behavioral responses and welfare reform: Evidence from a randomized experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 135-151.
    16. Guyonne Kalb & Rosanna Scutella, 2003. "New Zealand Labour Supply from 1991-2001: An Analysis Based on a Discrete Choice Structural Utility Model," Treasury Working Paper Series 03/23, New Zealand Treasury.
    17. Flavio Marques & Simone Covre & Enlinson Mattos, 2008. "Oferta de trabalho e transferências: Evidências do efeito das condições impostas pelo programa Bolsa-Família," Anais do XXXVI Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 36th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 200807141223420, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    18. Robert I. Lerman & Elaine Sorenson, 2003. "Child Support: Interactions between Private and Public Transfers," NBER Chapters, in: Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, pages 587-628, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Mansur, Erin T. & Olmstead, Sheila M., 2012. "The value of scarce water: Measuring the inefficiency of municipal regulations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 332-346.
    20. Guyonne R. Kalb, 2000. "Labour Supply and Welfare Participation in Australian Two-Adult Households: Accounting for Involuntary Unemployment and the 'Cost' of Part-time Work," Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre Working Papers bp-35, Victoria University, Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:54:y:2015:i:c:p:49-56. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.