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The Antipoverty Effectiveness of Child Support: Empirical Evidence for Latin American Countries

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  • Laura Cuesta
  • Mia Hakovirta
  • Merita Jokela

Abstract

In this paper we examine the role of child support in the economic well-being of children in single-parent families in Latin America. We use the Luxembourg Income Study wave IX and the 2012 Colombian Quality of Life Survey to answer three questions: (1) are children in single-parent families more likely to be poor than children in two-parent families? (2) what is the relative importance of different income sources in the income packages of these families? and (3) are child support transfers improving the economic well-being of children in single-parent families? Our results show that children in single-parent families are disproportionally poor relative to two-parent families in Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay. For other countries, poverty rates are similar (Guatemala and Peru), or higher in two-parent families than single-parent families (Mexico). Labor income is the most important income source for both types of families in all of these countries. However, child support represents between 20 and 39 per cent of total income among families receiving this transfer. The largest antipoverty effectiveness of child support is also observed among these families. Child support brings between 30 and 55 per cent of children receiving this transfer out of poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:748
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daniel R. Meyer & Mei-Chen Hu, 1999. "A Note on the Antipoverty Effectiveness of Child Support among Mother-Only Families," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(1), pages 225-234.
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    3. 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.
    4. Shaohua Chen & Martin Ravallion, 2010. "The Developing World is Poorer than We Thought, But No Less Successful in the Fight Against Poverty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1577-1625.
    5. Christopher Garroway & Juan Ramón de Laiglesia, 2012. "On the Relevance of Relative Poverty for Developing Countries," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 314, OECD Publishing.
    6. -, 2017. "Economic and Social Panorama of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, 2016," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 40917 edited by Eclac.
    7. Suzanne Bianchi & Lekha Subaiya & Joan Kahn, 1999. "The gender gap in the economic well-being of nonresident fathers and custodial mothers," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(2), pages 195-203, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sarah Reynolds, 2022. "Household transitions between ages 5 and 15 and educational outcomes: Fathers and grandparents in Peru," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(14), pages 397-440.
    2. Mia Hakovirta & Laura Cuesta & Mari Haapanen & Daniel R. Meyer, 2022. "Child Support Policy across High-Income Countries: Similar Problems, Different Approaches," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 702(1), pages 97-111, July.
    3. John Bongaarts & John Casterline, 2022. "Extramarital fertility in low- and middle-income countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(3), pages 59-72.
    4. Haapanen, Mari & Riser, Quentin H. & Bartfeld, Judith & Berger, Lawrence M. & Hakovirta, Mia & Meyer, Daniel R. & Miettinen, Anneli, 2024. "Sharing care and sharing costs? Child support and child-related expense-sharing post-separation in Finland and Wisconsin, US," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    5. Mia Hakovirta & Christine Skinner & Heikki Hiilamo & Merita Jokela, 2019. "Child Poverty, Child Maintenance and Interactions with Social Assistance Benefits Among Lone Parent Families: a Comparative Analysis," LIS Working papers 774, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    6. Kim, Yeongmin & Chung, Yiyoon, 2020. "Child support receipt among divorced mothers in Korea: Changes after the 2007 policy reform," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

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