Working Paper: NBER ID: w12624
Authors: Neeraj Kaushal; Qin Gao; Jane Waldfogel
Abstract: We study the effect of welfare reform, broadly defined to include social policy changes in the 1990s, on the material well-being and expenditure patterns of poor single-mother families. Our research suggests that welfare reform did not affect total expenditures in households headed by low-educated single mothers. However, patterns of expenditure did change. We find strong evidence that the policy was associated with an increase in spending on transportation and food away from home, and some evidence of an increase in spending on adult clothing and footwear. In contrast, we find no statistically significant changes in expenditures on childcare or learning and enrichment activities. This pattern of results suggests that welfare reform has shifted family expenditures towards items that facilitate work outside the home, but, at least so far, has not allowed families to catch up with more advantaged families in terms of their expenditures on learning and enrichment items.
Keywords: Welfare Reform; Single Mothers; Expenditures; Material Wellbeing
JEL Codes: I3; I31; I38
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| welfare reform (I38) | total expenditures (H59) |
| welfare reform (I38) | composition of expenditures (E20) |
| welfare reform (I38) | spending on transportation (R42) |
| welfare reform (I38) | spending on food away from home (D12) |
| employment among low-educated single mothers (J68) | spending on work-related expenses (J32) |
| welfare reform (I38) | spending on adult clothing and footwear (L67) |
| welfare reform (I38) | spending on childcare (J13) |
| welfare reform (I38) | spending on learning and enrichment activities (I23) |