Full Citation

Title: Changes in Family Structure and Welfare Participation Since the 1960s: The Role of Legal Services

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2019

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.3386/w26238

NSFID:

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Abstract: This paper evaluates the effects of the War on Poverty’s Legal Services Program (LSP) on family structure and welfare participation. LSPs provided subsidized legal assistance to poor communities, focusing on divorce and welfare access. We use a difference-in-differences research design based on the rollout of the program to 251 counties from 1965 to 1975. We find temporary increases in divorce and persistent increases in welfare participation and nonmarital birth rates. Nonmarital births rose because marriage rates fell, not because birth rates rose. Expanded access to legal institutions thus contributed, directly and indirectly, to changes in family structure in the 1960s.

Url: https://www.nber.org/papers/w26238

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Goodman-Bacon, Andrew; Cunningham, Jamein, P

Series Title: NBER Working Paper Series

Publication Number: 26238

Institution: NBER

Pages: 57

Publisher Location:

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

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

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