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Title: Microeconomics of the Family: Three Essays
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Bitler, Marianne Parcella |
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Microeconomics of the Family: Three Essays Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. Also: http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/9827 Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning Keyword(s): Child Support; Crime; Family Studies; Fathers and Children; Fathers, Absence; Medicaid/Medicare; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Variables, Instrumental In this dissertation, I examine the effects of several different government programs on families. The first two chapters focus on different effects of the United States child support enforcement system. The third chapter considers the effects of the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children on both pregnancy outcomes for women and developmental outcomes for children. In chapter one, I examine the effects of the child support enforcement system on absent fathers' allocations of time and money to their children. Children's outcomes in later life are related to a variety of inputs that come from within the family. These inputs increasingly come from absent fathers who can contribute both money and time to their children. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I find that more aggressive enforcement at the state level reduces father-child contact as measured by number of visits and physical distance. Instrumental variables estimates suggest that time and money are substitutes for fathers affected by these child support enforcement mechanisms. In chapter two, I examine the effects of the child support enforcement system on non-custodial fathers' labor supply. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and instrumental variable techniques, I find evidence of both a positive effect of paying any child support on hours of work and of each additional dollar of child support paid on hours of work. These results are consistent with my findings in chapter one--namely that sate (sic) efforts to collect missing child support reduce the time fathers spend with their children. Chapter two suggests that fathers instead may be working more to comply with child support order. Chapter three, co-authored with Janet Currie and Duncan Thomas of the University of California at Los Angeles, examines the effects of the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), on both pregnancy outcomes for women and developmental outcomes for children. Previous studies have found extensive evidence of positive effects of WIC on a variety of pregnancy outcomes, but few have found any long-lasting evidence of WIC's effects on young children. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that WIC has positive but small effects on some pregnancy outcomes and on some cognitive test scores and on Medicaid and Food Stamp use in family fixed-effect specifications. However, instrumental variables estimates suggest that WIC has a negative effect on one motor skill test score and no effect on other test scores. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries) |
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Bibliography Citation
Bitler, Marianne Parcella. Microeconomics of the Family: Three Essays. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998.. |