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Marriage, Divorce, and Tax and Transfer Policy

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  • Elliott Isaac

    (Tulane University)

Abstract

I use variation from the 1990s in the Earned Income Tax Credit and welfare reform to estimate the effects on marrying and divorcing. I examine flows into and out of marriage, use test scores to predict who is most likely to be affected by the policy changes, and employ a flexible functional form to estimate heterogeneous effects. I find that low-earning single parents are more likely to marry due to the EITC expansion and lower welfare generosity, while mid-earning married parents are less likely to divorce and high-earning married parents are more likely to divorce due to the EITC expansion.

Suggested Citation

  • Elliott Isaac, 2018. "Marriage, Divorce, and Tax and Transfer Policy," Working Papers 1810, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tul:wpaper:1810
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    File URL: http://econ.tulane.edu/RePEc/pdf/tul1810.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Barigozzi, Francesca & Cremer, Helmuth & Roeder, Kerstin, 2019. "Till taxes do us part: Tax penalties or bonuses and the marriage decision," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 37-50.
    2. Shirley Peter, 2020. "First-time mothers and the labor market effects of the earned income tax credit," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-53, March.
    3. Elliott Isaac, 2018. "Suddenly Married: Joint Taxation And The Labor Supply Of Same-Sex Married Couples After U.S. v. Windsor," Working Papers 1809, Tulane University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    taxation; marriage; divorce; EITC; TANF; AFDC;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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