Multiple-Father Fertility and Welfare

Evenhouse, Eirik and Reilly, Siobhan (2010): Multiple-Father Fertility and Welfare.

Abstract

In the United States, multi-partnered fertility (MPF) has become commonplace. This study provides the first nationally representative measures of women’s MPF, across multiple years, using the U.S. Census Bureau’s Surveys of Income and Program Participation. Because welfare rules contain strong incentives for MPF, and because MPF is especially common among welfare recipients, we also examine the relationship between welfare and MPF. Focusing on the pre-TANF period 1985 to 1996, when welfare rules were more comparable across states and the absence of time limits made the incentives for MPF larger, we find little behavioral response. Among low-income mothers, MPF does not appear to be driven by program design. Because the incentives were relatively large and reached well up the income distribution, our findings amplify those of earlier studies that show little demographic response to antipoverty programs, and invite reconsideration of how much these incentives should constrain transfer programs that target children.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Multiple-father fertility; Multi-partnered fertility; SIPP; Survey of Income and Program Participation; AFDC; effects on family structure of welfare program
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I38 - Government Policy ; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J12 - Marriage ; Marital Dissolution ; Family Structure ; Domestic Abuse; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J11 - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts

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