Effects of Welfare Reform on Women's Voting Participation

Dhaval Dave, Hope Corman () and Nancy E. Reichman
Additional contact information
Hope Corman: Rider University
Nancy E. Reichman: Rutgers University

No 9780, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Voting is an important form of civic participation in democratic societies but a fundamental right that many citizens do not exercise. This study investigates the effects of welfare reform in the U.S. in the 1990s on voting of low income women. Using the November Current Population Surveys with the added Voting and Registration Supplement for the years 1990 through 2004 and exploiting changes in welfare policy across states and over time, we estimate the causal effects of welfare reform on women's voting registration and voting participation during the period during which welfare reform unfolded. We find robust evidence that welfare reform increased the likelihood of voting by about 4 percentage points, which translates to about a 10% increase relative to the baseline mean. The effects were largely confined to Presidential elections, were stronger in Democratic than Republican states, were stronger in states with stronger work incentive policies, and appeared to operate through employment, education, and income.

Keywords: education; civic participation; income; welfare reform; voting; employment; difference-in-differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H0 I2 J2 J3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2016-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-lma and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Economic Inquiry, 2017, 55 (3), 1430-1451

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Related works:
Journal Article: EFFECTS OF WELFARE REFORM ON WOMEN'S VOTING PARTICIPATION (2017)
Working Paper: Effects of Welfare Reform on Women's Voting Participation (2016)
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