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Title: The effect of child support on selection into marriage and fertility

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2019

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Abstract: Child support policies in the United States have expanded dramatically since the mid-1970s and now cover 1 in 5 children. This paper studies the consequences of child support for marriage and fertility decisions. I first introduce a model showing that child support enforces ex ante commitment from men to provide financial support in the event of a child, which (1) increases premarital sex among couples unlikely to marry, and (2) reduces the abortion rate, by lessening the cost of raising a child as a single mom. Using variation in the timing and geography of the rollout of U.S. child support laws relative to the timing of pregnancy, from 1977 to 1992, I find that marriages following an unplanned pregnancy are less likely to occur under strengthened child support laws, accounting for about a 7-8 percentage point reduction relative to a base of 38 percent. I find that the child support rollout reduced the abortion rate by 1-2 per 1000 women aged 15-44, off a base of 28, representing about 50 percent of the total decline in the abortion rate over this period.

Url: https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2019/CES-WP-19-04.pdf

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Authors: Tannenbaum, Daniel I.

Series Title: CES Working Papers

Publication Number: 19-04

Institution: University of Nebraska - Lincoln

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Publisher Location: Lincoln

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS CPS

Topics: Family and Marriage, Fertility and Mortality, Other

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