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Title: Resource Allocation to Children in Families: A Comparative Analysis Using Stepfamilies
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Gennetian, Lisa Anoush |
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Resource Allocation to Children in Families: A Comparative Analysis Using Stepfamilies Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University, 1998 Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning Keyword(s): Bargaining Model; Families, Two-Parent; Family Structure; Family Studies; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Stepfamilies In this dissertation I compare stepfamilies (as one type of two parent family structure) with intact families (as another type of two parent family structure) to empirically examine hypotheses about resource allocation within families. Specifically I examine the hypotheses that (1) biological preferences affect resource allocation within the household, and, in turn, may account for documented differences in child outcomes between children in two biological parent families and stepchildren in stepfamilies; and (2) with biological preferences the impact of each parent's resources on child outcomes may significantly differ and thus, some types of married couple households may allocate resources through household bargaining. The empirical work is implemented using a sample of children aged 5 through 10 from 1986 to 1994 in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Female/Child data. The child well-being measures include the PIAT achievement test score and the HOME Cognitive Subscore. If biological ties motivate the allocation of resources, then stepchildren, who have only one biological parent in the family, may be considered private goods within remarriage. Empirically, this hypothesis leads to testable implications about the effect of the presence of halfsiblings, stepsiblings and the effect of family income. I find some evidence of biological preferences and that, relative to children living in nonblended families, having a halfsibling or stepsibling has a negative impact on child outcomes for all children. My results also suggest that for young children there are benefits (via stepfather income) associated with a social environment that differs from that which existed while in single mother families. These benefits slightly mitigate the detrimental effects of resource allocation or of living in a blended family. With the basis of preferences being tied to biological membership and children as private goods within marriage, stepfamilies provide an alternative to t esting against the unitary model of household decision-making with respect to child outcomes. I test the income pooling hypothesis and the significance of other measures of bargaining power on child outcomes for children with two biological parents and stepchild outcomes. I reject the income pooling hypothesis in stepfamilies and fail to reject this hypothesis in families with two biological parents. These results suggest the appropriateness of a bargaining framework for modeling resource allocation within a stepfamily. |
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Bibliography Citation
Gennetian, Lisa Anoush. Resource Allocation to Children in Families: A Comparative Analysis Using Stepfamilies. Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University, 1998. |