IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v8y2024i8d10.1038_s41562-024-01915-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of a monthly unconditional cash transfer starting at birth on family investments among US families with low income

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa A. Gennetian

    (Duke University)

  • Greg J. Duncan

    (University of California)

  • Nathan A. Fox

    (University of Maryland)

  • Sarah Halpern-Meekin

    (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

  • Katherine Magnuson

    (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

  • Kimberly G. Noble

    (Columbia University)

  • Hirokazu Yoshikawa

    (New York University)

Abstract

How does unconditional income for families in poverty affect parental investments for their young children? Mothers in four US metropolitan areas were randomized to receive a monthly unconditional cash transfer of either $333 per month (high) or $20 per month (low) for the first several years after childbirth. During the first 3 years, high-cash gift households spent more money on child-specific goods and more time on child-specific early learning activities than the low-cash gift group. Few changes were evident in other core household expenditures. Compared with low-cash gift families, high-cash gift families reported lower rates of public benefit receipt and fewer were residing in poverty, although mean income and wealth remain low for the majority of families by year 3. No statistically significant differences were evident in mothers’ participation in paid work, children’s time in childcare or mothers’ subjective wellbeing.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa A. Gennetian & Greg J. Duncan & Nathan A. Fox & Sarah Halpern-Meekin & Katherine Magnuson & Kimberly G. Noble & Hirokazu Yoshikawa, 2024. "Effects of a monthly unconditional cash transfer starting at birth on family investments among US families with low income," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(8), pages 1514-1529, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:8:y:2024:i:8:d:10.1038_s41562-024-01915-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01915-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01915-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-024-01915-7?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.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:nat:nathum:v:8:y:2024:i:8:d:10.1038_s41562-024-01915-7. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    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.