Marriage, Labor Supply, and the Dynamics of the Social Safety Net

Hamish W. Low, Costas Meghir, Luigi Pistaferri and Alessandra Voena

No WP 2025-27, Working Paper Series from Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Abstract: The 1996 U.S. welfare reform introduced time limits on welfare receipt. We use quasi-experimental evidence and a rich life cycle model to understand the impact of time limits on different margins of behavior and well-being. We stress the impact of marital status and marital transitions on mitigating the cost and impact of time limits. Time limits cause women to defer claiming in anticipation of future needs and to work more, effects that depend on the probabilities of marriage and divorce. They also cause an increase in employment among single mothers and reduce divorce, but their introduction costs women 0.7% of lifetime consumption, gross of the redistribution of government savings.

Keywords: Welfare; Welfare reform; Limited commitment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 H53 J12 J21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 98
Date: 2025-12-19
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https://doi.org/10.21033/wp-2025-27 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Marriage, Labor Supply and the Dynamics of the Social Safety Net (2022)
Working Paper: Marriage, Labor Supply and the Dynamics of the Social Safety Net (2018)
Working Paper: Marriage, Labor Supply and the Dynamics of the Social Safety Net (2018)
Working Paper: Marriage, Labor Supply and the Dynamics of the Social Safety Net (2018)
Working Paper: Marriage, labour supply and the dynamics of the social safety net (2018)
Working Paper: Marriage, Labor Supply and the Dynamics of the Social Safety Net (2018)
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DOI: 10.21033/wp-2025-27

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