Working Paper: NBER ID: w18994
Authors: Jason M. Lindo; Jessamyn Schaller; Benjamin Hansen
Abstract: This paper examines the effect of labor market conditions—measured through unemployment, mass layoffs and predicted employment—on child abuse and neglect using county-level data from California. Using these indicators we separately estimate the effects of overall and gender-specific economic shocks. We find only modest evidence of a link between overall economic conditions and child maltreatment. However, analysis by gender reveals robust evidence that maltreatment decreases with indicators for male employment and increases with indicators for female employment. These opposite-signed effects are consistent with a theoretical framework that builds on family-time-use models and is supported by analysis of time-use data.
Keywords: child maltreatment; labor market conditions; gender-specific effects
JEL Codes: I10; J13; J16; J63; K42
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| local unemployment rates (J69) | rates of child maltreatment (J12) |
| male employment (J79) | rates of child maltreatment (J12) |
| female employment (J21) | rates of child maltreatment (J12) |
| male mass layoff rates (J63) | rates of child maltreatment (J12) |
| female mass layoff rates (J79) | rates of child maltreatment (J12) |