Volume 29, Number 2 (Spring) 1994

Moffitt, Robert. 1994. "Welfare Effects on Female Headship with Area Effects." Journal of Human Resources 29(2):621-636.

The existing literature on welfare effects on female headship in the United States shows significant positive correlations in cross-section, possibly increasing over time. However, when geographic, or area, effects are permitted in the estimation, these correlations either disappear or reverse in sign. The results have implications for the study of welfare effects in other countries, including Canada, where benefits vary considerably across provinces and localities within them.

The author is a professor of economics at brown University. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the December 1991 Donner Foundation Conference on the Economic Well-Being of Women and Children held at the University of Minnesota Industrial Relations Center. Comments from participants at that conference as well as at seminars at the University of Chicago, the University of Washington, and the RAND Corporation are appreciated. The author is solely responsible for errors and opinions. Support from NIH grant R01-HD27248 and from NIH grant P30-HD28251 to the Brown Population Studies and Training Center are also gratefully acknowledged. The data for this article can be obtained beginning in August 1994 through August 1997 from the author at the Department of Economics, Brown University, 64 Waterman Street, Robinson Hall, Providence, RI 02912.