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The Impact of Child Support on the Household Income and Labour Supply of Payee Lone Mothers
Author(s) -
Fisher Hayley
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/1475-4932.12314
Subject(s) - child support , income support , government (linguistics) , demographic economics , labour economics , economics , low income , labour supply , business , political science , law , linguistics , philosophy , macroeconomics
One objective of child support schemes is to reduce the reliance of lone parents on government transfers. I estimate the effect of receiving child support on the household income and labour market activity of payee lone mothers in Australia. I use variation in the amount of child support received driven by the employment status of the paying parent, and find that receiving any child support reduces government transfers, increases labour force participation, and increases household income in excess of the amount of child support received. Increasing the amount of child support received does not decrease the employment rate or hours worked of lone mothers.