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  5. Children and the US Social Safety Net: Balancing Disincentives for Adults and Benefits for Children

Journal of Economic Perspectives

ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)

Children and the US Social Safety Net: Balancing Disincentives for Adults and Benefits for Children

  • Anna Aizer
  • Hilary Hoynes
  • Adriana Lleras-Muney
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 36, no. 2, Spring 2022
(pp. 149–74)
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Abstract

Economic research on the safety net has evolved over time, moving away from a focus on the negative incentive effects of means-tested assistance on employment, earnings, marriage, and fertility to include the potential positive benefits of such programs to children. Initially, this research on benefits to children focused on short-run impacts, but as we accumulated knowledge about skill production and better data became available, the research evolved further to include important long-run economic outcomes such as employment, earnings, and mortality. Once the positive long-run benefits to children are considered, many safety net programs are cost-effective. However, the current government practice of limiting the time horizon for cost-benefit calculations of policy initiatives often fails to take this into account. Finally, we discuss why child poverty in the United States is still higher than most OECD countries and how research on children and the safety net can better inform policy-making.

Citation

Aizer, Anna, Hilary Hoynes, and Adriana Lleras-Muney. 2022. "Children and the US Social Safety Net: Balancing Disincentives for Adults and Benefits for Children." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36 (2): 149–74. DOI: 10.1257/jep.36.2.149

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • H24 Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes
  • H53 National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
  • H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
  • I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
  • I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
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