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Title: Welfare and Poverty: Pathways to Adult Economic Outcomes
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Kunz, James Peter |
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Welfare and Poverty: Pathways to Adult Economic Outcomes Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Michigan, 1997 Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Educational Attainment; Fatherhood; Labor Market Outcomes; Mothers, Adolescent; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID); Parenthood; Parents, Single; Poverty; Self-Esteem; Welfare Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience youth cohort, the educational and labor market outcomes of young men in the United States were examined, with emphasis on adolescent fathers. Adolescent fathers complete fewer years of education and are less likely to finish high school compared to adult fathers. As a result of federal welfare reform legislation passed in 1996, states are required to impose lifetime limits on federal welfare benefits to low-income families and are allowed to prohibit benefits to unmarried teenagers. Both provisions have been justified as being in the long-run economic interest of children and teenagers. Proponents of lifetime limits argue that children from welfare families become caught up in a "cycle of dependency" and, as a result, work less, earn less, and become more likely to be on welfare themselves when they become adults. Those who would prohibit assistance to unmarried teenagers argue that these women also compare unfavorably as adults to women who wait until they are married or in their twenties to have children. While it may well be true that both children from welfare families and unmarried teenagers fare more poorly as adults, the pathways by which these results obtain are much less understood. This dissertation explores some of the path ways from poverty, welfare, and single teen motherhood to poor adult outcomes. First, an overview of the theoretical perspectives that have been brought to bear on the intergenerational effects of the Aid to Dependent Families with Children (AFDC) is presented and recent studies of these effects are critiqued. This review finds scant theoretical justification, in either the economic, sociological, or psychological literature, for the belief that welfare, in and of itself, causes poor adult outcomes and concludes that it is difficult to separate the effects of welfare from the effects of poverty. Following this review, two empirical studies examine commonly cited pathways to poor adult outcomes. The first study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and finds that family welfare receipt during childhood has little effect on measured self-esteem during early adolescence. The second study uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to look at the impact of single teen motherhood on later economic outcomes and finds that controlling for unmeasured family background reduces, but does not eliminate, these negative effects. Taken together, these findings suggest that the long-run benefits of placing time limits on welfare and prohibiting aid to teenagers are likely to be overstated. |
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Bibliography Citation
Kunz, James Peter. Welfare and Poverty: Pathways to Adult Economic Outcomes. Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Michigan, 1997. |