Full Citation

Title: The Incentive Effects of Cash Transfers to the Poor

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2020

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.3386/w27523

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: All redistributive and social insurance programs trade off the potential benefits of transfers with the disincentives these programs generate. We investigate this trade-off using newly collected lifetime data for 16,000 women who applied to the Mothers' Pension Program, the first cash transfer program in the US. In the short-run cash transfers reduced geographic mobility and delayed marriage of recipients but did not affect who they married or where they moved to. In the long run transfers had no effect on work, marriage or fertility behaviors. They also did not improve the economic conditions of recipients or their longevity.

Url: http://www.nber.org/papers/w27523.pdf

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Aizer, Anna; Eli, Shari; Lleras-Muney, Adriana

Series Title: NBER Working Paper Series

Publication Number: 27523

Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research

Pages:

Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage, Fertility and Mortality, Poverty and Welfare

Countries: