IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/soecon/v87y2020i2p483-516.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Who responds to changes to the federal adoption tax credit? Evidence from Florida

Author

Listed:
  • Luke P. Rodgers
  • Cullen T. Wallace

Abstract

The federal adoption tax credit (ATC) can help offset the cost of adoption, yet it is unclear whether it has a positive impact on the number of adoptions or if it merely transfers resources to households who would have adopted anyway. The ATC has primarily been a nonrefundable tax credit, but in 2010 and 2011 the full amount (over $13,000) was available as a refundable tax credit, representing a substantial increase in the benefit to lower‐ and middle‐income families—those with typically low tax liability. Using county‐level data from Florida, we estimate an increase of 265 additional public adoptions over what would be expected at the end of 2011. Relative decreases in adoptions in the first months of 2012 suggest that much of this increase is due to retiming rather than new adoptions. The response appears to be concentrated in lower‐ and middle‐income households living in higher‐income, more populated areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Luke P. Rodgers & Cullen T. Wallace, 2020. "Who responds to changes to the federal adoption tax credit? Evidence from Florida," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(2), pages 483-516, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:87:y:2020:i:2:p:483-516
    DOI: 10.1002/soej.12466
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12466
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/soej.12466?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. Gordon B. Dahl & Lance Lochner, 2012. "The Impact of Family Income on Child Achievement: Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 1927-1956, August.
    2. Emmanuel Saez, 2010. "Do Taxpayers Bunch at Kink Points?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 180-212, August.
    3. 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.
    4. Kevin Milligan, 2005. "Subsidizing the Stork: New Evidence on Tax Incentives and Fertility," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(3), pages 539-555, August.
    5. 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.
    6. Kasey S. Buckles, 2013. "Adoption Subsidies and Placement Outcomes for Children in Foster Care," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(3), pages 596-627.
    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. David Simon & Aaron Sojourner & Jon Pedersen & Heidi Ombisa Skallet, 2024. "Financial Incentives for Adoption and Kin Guardianship Improve Achievement for Foster Children," Upjohn Working Papers 24-401, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Cullen T. Wallace, 2024. "Who claims the federal adoption tax credit? Those who know about it," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(3), pages 555-565, May.

    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. David Simon & Aaron Sojourner & Jon Pedersen & Heidi Ombisa Skallet, 2024. "Financial Incentives for Adoption and Kin Guardianship Improve Achievement for Foster Children," Upjohn Working Papers 24-401, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Bishop Kelly C. & Mac Donald Diana E., 2022. "The Effect of Paying Parents to Adopt: Evidence from Minnesota's Foster-Care System," Working Papers 2022-01, Banco de México.
    3. 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.
    4. Alex Proshin, 2020. "Impact of Child Subsidies on Child Health, Well-being and Parental Investment in Human Capital: Evidence from Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey 2011-2017," PSE Working Papers halshs-02652268, HAL.
    5. Kevin Milligan & Mark Stabile, 2011. "Do Child Tax Benefits Affect the Well-Being of Children? Evidence from Canadian Child Benefit Expansions," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 175-205, August.
    6. John Guyton & Kara Leibel & Day Manoli & Ankur Patel & Mark Payne & Brenda Schafer, 2023. "The Effects of EITC Correspondence Audits on Low-Income Earners," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 38, pages 163-207, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Asakawa, Shinsuke & Sasaki, Masaru, 2022. "Can child benefit reductions increase maternal employment? Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Marianne Bitler & Hilary Hoynes & Elira Kuka, 2017. "Do In-Work Tax Credits Serve as a Safety Net?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(2), pages 319-350.
    9. González, Libertad, 2011. "The Effects of a Universal Child Benefit," IZA Discussion Papers 5994, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Gordon Dahl & Katrine Loken, 2024. "Families, Public Policies, and the Labor Market," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2423, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    11. Elira Kuka & Na'ama Shenhav, 2024. "Long-Run Effects of Incentivizing Work after Childbirth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(6), pages 1692-1722, June.
    12. Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Michael R. Strain, 2021. "Employment Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit: Taking the Long View," Tax Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 87-129.
    13. 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.
    14. Cameron Taylor, 2024. "Why do families foster children? A Beckerian approach," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 261-293, March.
    15. Timo Hener, 2016. "Unconditional Child Benefits, Mothers’ Labor Supply, and Family Well-Being: Evidence from a Policy Reform," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 62(4), pages 624-649.
    16. Hilary W. Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2018. "Safety Nets Investments in Children," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 49(1 (Spring), pages 89-150.
    17. Day Manoli & Nicholas Turner, 2018. "Cash-on-Hand and College Enrollment: Evidence from Population Tax Data and the Earned Income Tax Credit," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 242-271, May.
    18. Lauren E. Jones & Kevin Milligan & Mark Stabile, 2019. "Child cash benefits and family expenditures: Evidence from the National Child Benefit," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1433-1463, November.
    19. Dayanand S. Manoli & Nicholas Turner, 2014. "Nudges and Learning: Evidence from Informational Interventions for Low-Income Taxpayers," NBER Working Papers 20718, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Anna Raute, 2018. "Can financial incentives reduce the baby gap? Evidence from a reform in maternity leave benefits," Working Papers 871, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.

    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:wly:soecon:v:87:y:2020:i:2:p:483-516. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2325-8012 .

    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.