The Impact of Percentage-Expressed Child Support Orders on Payments

Judi Bartfeld and Irwin Garfinkel

Journal of Human Resources, 1996, vol. 31, issue 4, 794-815

Abstract: We examine the impacts on child support payments of explicitly indexing orders to noncustodial parents' incomes by expressing orders as a percentage of income rather than as a fixed sum. Using data collected from 21 counties in Wisconsin, we find that payments on behalf of percentage-expressed orders increase much faster than would be expected were orders expressed as a fixed sum, after controlling for differences between cases with the two award types. Collections on behalf of percentage-expressed orders increase relative to fixed-sum orders because of large increases over time in the amount of the obligation; in comparison, fixed-sum obligations are extremely stable.

Date: 1996
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:31:y:1996:i:4:p:794-815

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