Parental responses to child support obligations: Evidence from administrative data

Maya Rossin-Slater; Miriam Wüst

doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.06.003

Parental responses to child support obligations: Evidence from administrative data

Maya Rossin-Slater^*, Miriam Wüst

^*Corresponding author for this work

Abstract

We study parental responses to child support obligations using rich administrative data from Denmark and variation in the child support formula. We estimate that a 1000 DKK ($160) increase in a father's obligation is associated with a 273 DKK ($45) increase in his payment. A higher obligation reduces father-child co-residence, pointing to substitution between financial and non-pecuniary investments. Further, obligations increase post-separation fertility among remarried fathers, but have no impacts on maternal fertility or either parent's labor supply. Our findings suggest that government efforts to increase child investments through mandates on parents can be complicated by their behavioral responses to them.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Public Economics
Volume	164
Pages (from-to)	183-196
Number of pages	14
ISSN	0047-2727
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.06.003
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2018
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Child support
Divorce
Family
Father involvement
Fertility
Labor supply
Parents

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10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.06.003

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title = "Parental responses to child support obligations: Evidence from administrative data",

abstract = "We study parental responses to child support obligations using rich administrative data from Denmark and variation in the child support formula. We estimate that a 1000 DKK ($160) increase in a father's obligation is associated with a 273 DKK ($45) increase in his payment. A higher obligation reduces father-child co-residence, pointing to substitution between financial and non-pecuniary investments. Further, obligations increase post-separation fertility among remarried fathers, but have no impacts on maternal fertility or either parent's labor supply. Our findings suggest that government efforts to increase child investments through mandates on parents can be complicated by their behavioral responses to them.",

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AU - Wüst, Miriam

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N2 - We study parental responses to child support obligations using rich administrative data from Denmark and variation in the child support formula. We estimate that a 1000 DKK ($160) increase in a father's obligation is associated with a 273 DKK ($45) increase in his payment. A higher obligation reduces father-child co-residence, pointing to substitution between financial and non-pecuniary investments. Further, obligations increase post-separation fertility among remarried fathers, but have no impacts on maternal fertility or either parent's labor supply. Our findings suggest that government efforts to increase child investments through mandates on parents can be complicated by their behavioral responses to them.

AB - We study parental responses to child support obligations using rich administrative data from Denmark and variation in the child support formula. We estimate that a 1000 DKK ($160) increase in a father's obligation is associated with a 273 DKK ($45) increase in his payment. A higher obligation reduces father-child co-residence, pointing to substitution between financial and non-pecuniary investments. Further, obligations increase post-separation fertility among remarried fathers, but have no impacts on maternal fertility or either parent's labor supply. Our findings suggest that government efforts to increase child investments through mandates on parents can be complicated by their behavioral responses to them.

KW - Child support

KW - Divorce

KW - Family

KW - Father involvement

KW - Fertility

KW - Labor supply

KW - Parents

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DO - 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.06.003

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VL - 164

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JO - Journal of Public Economics

JF - Journal of Public Economics

ER -

Parental responses to child support obligations: Evidence from administrative data

Abstract

Keywords

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