Marriage, labour supply and the dynamics of the social safety net

Arbeitspapier

The 1996 PRWORA reform introduced time limits on the receipt of welfare in the United States. We use variation by state and across demographic groups to provide reduced form evidence showing that such limits led to a fall in welfare claims (partly due to "banking" benefi ts for future use), a rise in employment, and a decline in divorce rates. We then specify and estimate a life-cycle model of marriage, labor supply and divorce under limited commitment to better understand the mechanisms behind these behavioral responses, carry out counterfactual analysis with longer run impacts and evaluate the welfare effects of the program. Based on the model, which reproduces the reduced form estimates, we show that among low educated women, instead of relying on TANF, single mothers work more, more mothers remain married, some move to relying only on food stamps and, in ex-ante welfare terms, women are worse off.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: IFS Working Papers ; No. W18/05

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡ ; National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs ; Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse ; Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
• Thema: time limits ; welfare reform ; life-cycle ; marriage and divorce ; Sozialreform ; Öffentliche Sozialleistungen ; Arbeitsangebot ; Ehe ; Scheidung ; Lebenszyklus ; USA

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Low, Hamish W. ; Meghir, Costas ; Pistaferri, Luigi ; Voena, Alessandra
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
• (wo): London
• (wann): 2018

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: doi:10.1920/wp.ifs.2018.W1805
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/200294
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:47 MEZ