Effects of Welfare Participation on Marriage Center for Research on Child Wellbeing
نویسندگان
چکیده
Despite interest in the potential of the welfare system as a tool to affect marriage behaviors among low-income women, little is known about how welfare participation affects decisions to marry. We employ an event history approach to examine transitions to marriage over a five-year period among mothers who have had a non-marital birth. We find that welfare participation under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF) reduces the likelihood of transitioning to marriage (hazard ratio is .67, p < .01), but only while the mother is receiving welfare. Once the mother leaves TANF, past receipt has little effect on marriage. We project that over an 18-year period, TANF participation results in at most a 4 to 5 percentage point reduction in marriage and a 16-month delay in marriage. We infer that the negative association between TANF participation and marriage reflects temporary economic disincentives or other short-term mechanisms rather than lasting effects on values and preferences. WP05-24-FF
منابع مشابه
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