The Roles of Child Support Enforcement and Welfare In Nonmarital Childbearing

Irwin Garfinkel, Daniel S. Gaylin, Chien-Chung Huang and Sara McLanahan

JCPR Working Papers from Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research

Abstract: Most of the public discussion and academic analyses of nonmarital birthrates focus on women's fertility intentions and welfare. In contrast, we argue that stricter child support enforcement may lower nonmarital birthrates by raising the costs of fatherhood for men. The analysis is based on aggregate state level data for the years 1980 through 1996 and utilizes (primarily) fixed effects regression models. We find that strict child support enforcement deters and generous welfare promotes non-marital births. Compared to welfare, the estimated effects of child support enforcement are more robust. Moreover, the largest estimates for each imply that in the 1980-1996 period, decreases in welfare led to a 6% decrease in non-marital births while increases in child support enforcement led to a decline of 12%.

Date: 2002-01-08
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:jopovw:266

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