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Title: Family Structure, Race, and Feminization of Poverty
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. McElroy, Marjorie B.
Kniesner, Thomas J.
Family Structure, Race, and Feminization of Poverty
Working Paper, Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1986
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Keyword(s): Divorce; Family Background and Culture; Family Structure; Life Cycle Research; Marital Status; Poverty; Remarriage; Welfare; Women

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The substantial increase in the number of women living in poverty during the 1970s and the 1980s has been termed the feminization of poverty. Our research analyzes theoretically and empirically changes in family structure and the concomitant contribution to this trend. Our empirical work utilizes the NLS Mature Women's data to analyze the poverty experience of women at a crucial stage in the life cycle. Emphasized are the joint roles of chance, choice, and exogenous background factors in determining family structure. In particular, we present estimated multivariate hazard factors for divorce and remarriage and their relationship to poverty entry and exit. The focus is on predetermined factors--including both welfare generosity and demographics. We conclude by conjecturing that (at least through the year 2000) poverty will be defeminized.
Bibliography Citation
McElroy, Marjorie B. and Thomas J. Kniesner. "Family Structure, Race, and Feminization of Poverty." Working Paper, Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1986.