| 来源类型 | Report |
| 规范类型 | 报告 |
| Marriage, penalized: Does social-welfare policy affect family formation? | |
| W. Bradford Wilcox; Angela Rachidi; Joseph Price | |
| 发表日期 | 2016-07-26 |
| 出版年 | 2016 |
| 语种 | 英语 |
| 摘要 | Executive Summary Today, more than four in ten families in America receive some kind of means-tested government assistance, from Medicaid to food stamps. The expanding reach of the welfare state means that a substantial share of lower-middle-class couples with children receive such aid—and many of these couples receive more generous support if they are unmarried. That’s especially the case if their total income as a cohabiting couple is not considered in determining their eligibility for assistance, as often appears to be the case. To use the term of public policy analysts, these couples face a “marriage penalty,” where it makes more financial sense for them to cohabit rather than marry. Our analysis of American couples whose oldest child is two years or younger indicates that 82 percent of those in the second and third quintiles of family income ($24,000 to $79,000) face this kind of marriage penalty when it comes to Medicaid, cash welfare, or food stamps. By contrast, only 66 percent of their counterparts in the bottom quintile (less than $24,000) face such a penalty. But do the marriage penalties associated with means-tested policies in the U.S. matter when it comes to family formation? The evidence from Marriage, Penalized is mixed. Three findings are particularly noteworthy: In sum, our findings suggest that marriage penalties related to means-tested benefits do not discourage marriage among the poorest families in the U.S. But marriage penalties may play a role in discouraging marriage among lower-middle-class families. Given the possibility that at least two major means-tested programs, food stamps and Medicaid, reduce the odds that American couples with children marry, we think that the federal government should consider the following four strategies to address the marriage penalties embedded within social-welfare policies: Steps like these are worth exploring, since this report and a number of other studies conclude that marriage penalties, or other aspects of means-tested assistance, may discourage lower- and moderate-income couples from marrying. In the 1960s and 1970s, social-welfare programs may have been most consequential for family formation among the poorest couples, largely because they were the ones most likely to participate in such programs. Today, however, the design of social-welfare policy may have the most influence on couples in the lower middle class. In light of the important role that stable marriage plays in preserving the American Dream for men, women, and children, federal and state policymakers should seek to reduce marriage penalties that increasingly confront lower-middle-class families. No one wants to see government efforts to support the lower middle class undermine the stability of the very families they are intended to help. Read the full report. |
| 主题 | Economics ; Poverty Studies |
| 标签 | Marriage ; social welfare ; Welfare reform |
| URL | https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/marriage-penalized-does-social-welfare-policy-affect-family-formation/ |
| 来源智库 | American Enterprise Institute (United States) |
| 资源类型 | 智库出版物 |
| 条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/206274 |
| 推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | W. Bradford Wilcox,Angela Rachidi,Joseph Price. Marriage, penalized: Does social-welfare policy affect family formation?. 2016. |
| 条目包含的文件 | ||||||
| 文件名称/大小 | 资源类型 | 版本类型 | 开放类型 | 使用许可 | ||
| IFS-HomeEconReport-2（5575KB） | 智库出版物 | 限制开放 | CC BY-NC-SA | 浏览 | ||
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