Volume 25, Number 1 (Winter) 1990
Garfinkel, Irwin, Philip K. Robins, Pat Wong, and Daniel R. Meyer. 1990. "The Wisconsin Child Support Assurance System: Estimated Effects on Participants." Journal of Human Resources 25(1):1-31.
The economic impact of a child support assurance system (CSAS) is simulated with microdata on custodial families in Wisconsin. The CSAS includes a uniform child support standard, automatic wage withholding, a minimum child support benefit, and wage subsidy for eligible families. The simulation incorporates a model of the labor supply decision representing the custodial parent's choice of whether to participate in CSAS or in the current AFDC system. The results suggest that CSAS can significantly reduce poverty as well as welfare caseloads. If child support collections increase by one-half of the difference between estimated ability to pay child support and current collections, CSAS will be less costly than the current system.
All of the authors are associated with the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, Irwin Garfinkel is a professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Philip K. Robins is a professor of economics at the University of Miami; Pat Wong is a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas-Austin; Daniel R. Meyer is a graduate student in social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The research reported in this paper was supported by a contract with the Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services. Financial support was also provided by the Ford Foundation. The authors wish to acknowledge the helpful comments of participants in a seminar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and three anonymous referees. Any opinions expressed here are solely those of the authors.
© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X