IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pubfin/v44y2016i2p163-196.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Child Adoption Marketplace

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Skidmore
  • Gary Anderson
  • Mark Eiswerth

Abstract

In the United States, child adoption costs vary considerably, ranging from no out-of-pocket expense to US$50,000 or more. What are the causes for the variability in adoption expenses? We administered a survey to a sample of Michigan adoptive families to link adoptive parent characteristics, child characteristics, and adoption-related expenses and subsidies. We then estimated “hedonic†regressions in which adoption cost is a function of child characteristics. The analysis shows that up to 74 percent of the variation in adoption costs is explained by child characteristics. In particular, costs are lower for older children, children of African descent, and special needs children. Findings inform policies regarding the transition of children from foster care to adoptive families.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Skidmore & Gary Anderson & Mark Eiswerth, 2016. "The Child Adoption Marketplace," Public Finance Review, , vol. 44(2), pages 163-196, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:44:y:2016:i:2:p:163-196
    DOI: 10.1177/1091142114547412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1091142114547412
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1091142114547412?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wulczyn, Fred, 2003. "Closing the gap: are changing exit patterns reducing the time African American children spend in foster care relative to Caucasian children?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(5-6), pages 431-462.
    2. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 991-1013, September.
    3. Brooks, Devon & James, Sigrid, 2003. "Willingness to adopt back foster children: implications for child welfare policy and recruitment of adoptive families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(5-6), pages 463-489.
    4. Mary Hansen, 2007. "Using Subsidies to Promote the Adoption of Children from Foster Care," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 377-393, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Laura Argys & Brian Duncan, 2013. "Economic Incentives and Foster Child Adoption," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(3), pages 933-954, June.
    2. Mark Skidmore & Gary Anderson & Mark Eiswerth, 2011. "The Child Adoption Marketplace: Parental Preferences and Adoption Outcomes," CESifo Working Paper Series 3674, CESifo.
    3. Anyon, Yolanda, 2011. "Reducing racial disparities and disproportionalities in the child welfare system: Policy perspectives about how to serve the best interests of African American youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 242-253, February.
    4. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Ooi, Evarn & Slonim, Robert, 2017. "Racial discrimination and white first name adoption: a field experiment in the Australian labour market," Working Papers 2017-15, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    5. Mujcic, Redzo & Frijters, Paul, 2013. "Still Not Allowed on the Bus: It Matters If You're Black or White!," IZA Discussion Papers 7300, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Anthony Edo & Nicolas Jacquemet & Constantine Yannelis, 2019. "Language skills and homophilous hiring discrimination: Evidence from gender and racially differentiated applications," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 349-376, March.
    7. Kevin Lang & Ariella Kahn-Lang Spitzer, 2020. "Race Discrimination: An Economic Perspective," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 68-89, Spring.
    8. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2008. "Detection Of Local Interactions From The Spatial Pattern Of Names In France," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 67-95, February.
    9. David H Chae & Sean Clouston & Mark L Hatzenbuehler & Michael R Kramer & Hannah L F Cooper & Sacoby M Wilson & Seth I Stephens-Davidowitz & Robert S Gold & Bruce G Link, 2015. "Association between an Internet-Based Measure of Area Racism and Black Mortality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-12, April.
    10. Elizabeth Hirsh & Hazel Hollingdale & Natasha Stecy-Hildebrandt, 2013. "Gender inequality in the workplace," Chapters, in: Deborah M. Figart & Tonia L. Warnecke (ed.), Handbook of Research on Gender and Economic Life, chapter 12, pages 183-199, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Saugato Datta & Vikram Pathania, 2016. "For whom does the phone (not) ring? Discrimination in the rental housing market in Delhi, India," WIDER Working Paper Series 055, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Amelia M. Biehl & Brian Hill, 2018. "Foster care and the earned income tax credit," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 661-680, September.
    13. Kelley Sarussi & Thomas Walstrum, 2019. "Education and the Evolution of Earnings Across Population Groups Since 2000," Profitwise, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue 5, pages 1-13.
    14. Ritwik Banerjee & Nabanita Datta Gupta, 2015. "Awareness Programs and Change in Taste-Based Caste Prejudice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    15. Bertrand, Jérémie & Burietz, Aurore, 2023. "(Loan) price and (loan officer) prejudice," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 26-42.
    16. Jan Hanousek & Štěpán Jurajda, 2018. "Názvy společností a jejich vliv na výkonnost firem [Corporate Names and Performance]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2018(6), pages 671-688.
    17. Bryson, Alex & Chevalier, Arnaud, 2015. "Is there a taste for racial discrimination amongst employers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 51-63.
    18. Bethany Everett & David Rehkopf & Richard Rogers, 2013. "The Nonlinear Relationship Between Education and Mortality: An Examination of Cohort, Race/Ethnic, and Gender Differences," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(6), pages 893-917, December.
    19. Ola Bengtsson & John R. M. Hand, 2013. "Employee Compensation in Entrepreneurial Companies," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 312-340, June.
    20. John M. Nunley & Adam Pugh & Nicholas Romero & Richard Alan Seals, Jr., 2014. "Unemployment, Underemployment, and Employment Opportunities: Results from a Correspondence Audit of the Labor Market for College Graduates," Auburn Economics Working Paper Series auwp2014-04, Department of Economics, Auburn University.

    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:sae:pubfin:v:44:y:2016:i:2:p:163-196. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.