published in: Population Research and Policy Review, 2004, 23 (5-6), 641-670
This study uses data from the 1990, 1992, 1993 and 1996 panels of the Survey of Income
and Program Participation to examine how welfare policies and local economic conditions
contribute to women's transitions into and out of female headship and into and out of welfare
participation. It also examines whether welfare participation is directly associated with longer
spells of headship. The study employs a simultaneous hazards approach that accounts for
unobserved heterogeneity in all of its transition models and for the endogeneity of welfare
participation in its headship model. The estimation results indicate that welfare participation
significantly reduces the chances of leaving female headship. The estimates also reveal that
more generous welfare benefits contribute indirectly to headship by increasing the chances
that mothers will enter welfare. More generous Earned Income Tax Credit benefits are
associated with longer spells of headship, non-headship, welfare participation and nonparticipation.
Other measures of welfare policies, including indicators for the adoption of
welfare waivers and the implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
programs, are generally not significantly associated with headship or welfare receipt. Better
economic opportunities are estimated to increase headship but reduce welfare participation
among unmarried mothers.
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