Allowance
Policy Feedback and the 2021 Advanced Child Tax Credit
Lyle Scruggs
Policy Studies Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Policy feedback theories suggest that experiencing government benefits can reshape political attitudes, but evidence of how quickly these effects develop and whether they persist after benefits are withdrawn remains limited. This paper examines the 2021 Advanced Child Tax Credit (ACTC), tracking public support through six surveys spanning the policy's complete lifecycle-from pre-implementation through two years post-expiration. Using a quasi-experimental design comparing parents eligible for benefits to pre-benefit baselines and non-parents, we find that experiencing the ACTC generated substantial and lasting increases in support among Republican parents (28 percentage points), while non-parent views remained mostly unchanged. While partisan differences persisted overall, the results nonetheless suggest that partisanship does not necessarily dominate self-interest. By examining attitudes well after policy repeal, this study provides unique insights into how brief exposure to universal benefits can create durable constituency support, even in highly polarized environments where policy feedback fails to prevent policy retrenchment.
Income and Child Maltreatment: Evidence from a Discontinuity in Tax Benefits
Katherine Rittenhouse
Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming
Abstract:
I provide new evidence of the effects of income on child maltreatment. I exploit a discontinuity in child-related tax benefits, which results in otherwise-similar families receiving considerably different refunds during the first year of a child's life. I use twenty years of linked administrative data from California to determine the effects of this additional income on child protection system (CPS) involvement. A one-time $1,000 transfer to low-income households decreases the number of referrals to CPS (3%) and number of days spent in foster care (7%) in the first 3 years of life. Effects persist through at least age 8.
Long-Term Health Effects of Early Childhood Exposure to the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
Susan Averett, Yating Gong & Yang Wang
Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study investigates the long-term health effects of early childhood exposure to the U.S. Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC). Using longitudinal data from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we examine the connection between early-life CDCTC exposure and health outcomes for children aged 6-18. The findings reveal varied effects depending on maternal education: children of mothers with more than a high school education experience adverse physical and mental health outcomes. In contrast, children of mothers who have a high school education or less show improvements in their mental health. These results indicate that, despite its intention to aid working families, the CDCTC may have complex effects on children's health, influenced by socio-economic factors. This study highlights the need for careful policy designs that consider the varying needs of families with different socio-economic statuses.
On Ideological Consistency and the Intergenerational Transmission of Political Attitudes
Clinton Jenkins
Political Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Over the past 50 years there have been significant changes in the political environment that may have affected parents' ability to socialize their children into similar political attitudes and beliefs. This paper investigates the effects of greater attitude constraint among parents on how successful parents are at transmitting their political values to their offspring. Using data from the Youth-Parent Socialization Study I demonstrate that the greater the extent to which a parent's political attitudes are ideologically constrained, the more likely it is that their child adopts similar political beliefs and attitudes, even after controlling for a multitude of other explanations. This may suggest that an increase of ideological constraint among some segments of the population has led to increased success at passing along their political attitudes to their children, while other segments of the population that have not become more ideologically constrained have not experienced any such increase in success.
Socioeconomic Differences in Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptive Use for Achieving U.S. Women's Family Planning Goals: "Right Time" Births
Mieke Eeckhaut, Yuko Hara & Michael Rendall
Demography, forthcoming
Abstract:
Steep increases in the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) have occurred during the past two decades in the United States, driven in part by LARC-focused contraceptive access programs and policies designed to reduce early and unintended pregnancies and births. These outcomes have long been concentrated among women of lower socioeconomic status (SES). LARC use has been positively associated with subsequent intended fertility, but the frequency of this post-LARC outcome has not been compared among SES groups in national studies. Using health insurance type to proxy for SES, we combine data from two nationally representative surveys to compare Medicaid-insured and privately insured women's ages at LARC discontinuation, their risk of a post-LARC birth by age, and their reports of whether the post-LARC birth was at the "right time." We find that Medicaid-insured women discontinue LARC use at much younger ages than do privately insured women and have a much higher likelihood of giving birth soon after LARC discontinuation at these younger ages. Consequently, similar overall proportions of women in the two groups report post-LARC births occurring at the "right time." We conclude that the alignment of achieved and desired birth timing following LARC use is similar between these two SES groups.