Chyi, Hau
Ozturk, Orgul Demet
The Effects of Single Mothers' Welfare Use and Employment Decisions on Children's Cognitive Development
Economic Inquiry 51,1 (January 2013): 675-706.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2012.00466.x/abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Birthweight; Maternal Employment; Medicaid/Medicare; Mothers; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Welfare;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We examine the effects of single mothers' welfare use and employment decisions on children's short-run cognitive development, as measured by their preschool standardized math test scores. We control for three mechanisms through which these decisions might affect children's outcomes: direct monetary benefits, parental time invested in the child, and nonpecuniary benefits from in-kind transfer programs such as Medicaid. We employ a correction function approach and control for state-fixed effects to address the endogenous nature of welfare participation and employment decisions. Our estimates suggest that although each additional quarter of either mother's employment or welfare use results in only a small increase in a child's standardized math test score, the total effects after several quarters are sizable. We allow mothers' decisions to have varying effects on attainment by children's observed innate ability and by the intensity of welfare use and employment. A child who has the mean level of observed innate ability with a mother who simultaneously worked and used welfare in all 20 quarters after childbirth experiences an 8.25 standardized-point increase in standardized scores. The positive impact is more pronounced for the more disadvantaged children, who tend to be born to mothers with low Armed Forces Qualification Test scores, or have lower birth weights. We also examine the effects using timing of employment and welfare use, as well as children's maturity and gender. (JEL I3, J13, J22)

Chyi, Hau
Ozturk, Orgul Demet
Welfare Reform and Children's Short-Run Attainments
Working Paper, Economics Department, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, September 8, 2008.
Also: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1238212
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc.
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Maternal Employment; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Welfare;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using PIAT Math test score as a measure of attainment, we find that both single mothers' work and welfare use in the first five years of their children's lives have a positive effect on children's outcomes, but this effect declines with initial ability. The higher the initial ability of a child, the lower the positive impact work and welfare have. In fact, in the case of welfare the effect is negative if a child has more than median initial ability. Furthermore, we find that the work requirement reduces a single mother's use of welfare. However, the net effect of the work requirement on a child's test score depends on whether the mother's work brings in enough labor income to compensate for the loss of welfare benefits. We also look at the implications of the welfare eligibility time limit and maternal leave policies on children's outcomes.

Ozturk, Orgul Demet
Chyi, Hau
The Effects of Single Mothers' Welfare Participation and Work Decisions on Children's Attainments
Working Paper, Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, February 5, 2006.
Also: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1238160
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Maternal Employment; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Welfare;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This research examines the effects of mothers welfare and work decisions on their children's attainments using a random effect instrumental variables (REIV) estimator. The estimator employs sibling comparisons in a random effect framework and an instrumental variables approach to address the unobserved heterogeneity that may influence mothers work and welfare decisions. The identification comes from the variation in mothers different economic incentives that arises from the AFDC benefit structures across U.S. states. I focus on children who were born to single mothers with twelve or fewer years of schooling. The short-run child attainments under consideration are the Peabody Individual Achievement Test math and reading recognition scores from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort. Long-run attainments are a child's number of years of schooling by age 25 and his or her early adulthood labor income, drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The REIV estimates imply that, relative to no welfare participation, participating in welfare for one to three years provides up to a 5 percentage point gain in a child's Picture Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) scores. The negative effect of childhood welfare participation on adult earnings found by others is not significant if one accounts for mothers work decisions. At the estimated values of the model parameters, a mothers number of years of work contributes between $3,000 and $7,000 1996 dollars to her child's labor income, but has no significant effect on the child's PIAT test scores. Finally, children's number of years of schooling are relatively unresponsive to mothers work and welfare participation choices.

Ozturk, Orgul Demet
Chyi, Hau
The Effects of Single Mothers' Welfare Participation and Work Decisions on Children's Attainments
Presented: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, University of Amsterdam, Annual Meetings of the European Association of Labour Economists, September 18-20, 2008.
Also: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/10110/
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Amsterdam
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Maternal Employment; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Welfare;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This research examines the effects of mothers' welfare and work decisions on their children's attainments using a random effect instrumental variables (REIV) estimator. The estimator employs sibling comparisons in a random effect framework and an instrumental variables approach to address the unobserved heterogeneity that may influence mothers' work and welfare decisions. The identification comes from the variation in mothers' different economic incentives that arises from the AFDC benefit structures across U.S. states. We focus on children who were born to single mothers with twelve or fewer years of schooling. The short-run child attainments under consideration are the Peabody Individual Achievement Test math and reading recognition scores from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort. Long-run attainments are a child's number of years of schooling by age 25 and his or her early adulthood labor income, drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The REIV estimates imply that, relative to no welfare participation, participating in welfare for one to three years provides up to a 5 percentage point gain in a child's Picture Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) scores. The negative effect of childhood welfare participation on adult earnings found by others is not significant if one accounts for mothers' work decisions. At the estimated values of the model parameters, a mother's number of years of work contributes between $3,000 and $7,000 1996 dollars to her child's labor income, but has no significant effect on the child's PIAT test scores. Finally, children's number of years of schooling are relatively unresponsive to mothers' work and welfare participation choices.

Ozturk, Orgul Demet
Chyi, Hau
Welfare and Work Participation of Single Mothers and Children's Cognitive Development
Working Paper, Economics Department, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, February 2007.
Also: hauchyi.googlepages.com/workwelfare.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Economics Department, Moore School of Business, University of Soutn Carolina
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Maternal Employment; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Welfare;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The effects of single mothers' welfare participation and work decisions on children's outcomes are important. First, theories and empirical studies regarding the effects of mothers' work on children's attainments yield ambiguous findings. Second, participating in AFDC also exhibits a negative statistical relationship with the participating children's possible outcomes of all sorts in the data. We develop a dynamic structural model of a single mother's work and welfare participation decisions while their children are young. This model is used to measure the effects of mothers' decisions on children's attainments in the short run. Using NLSY79 children's PIAT Math test scores as a measure of attainment, we find that single mother's work and welfare use in the first five years of her child's life both have positive effect on her child's outcome, but this effect declines by the initial ability. The higher the potential ability of child, the lower the positive impact work and welfare have. In fact, in case of welfare the effect is negative if child has more than about median initial ability.. Furthermore, we find that work requirement reduces a single mother's use of welfare. However, the net effect of work requirement on a child's test score depends on whether mother's work brings in enough labor income to compensate for the loss of welfare benefits. We also look at the implications of welfare eligibility time limit, child bonus, and maternal leave, on child's outcome.

Ozturk, Orgul Demet
Chyi, Hau
Welfare and Work Participation of Single Mothers and Children's Cognitive Development
Presented: Chicago, IL, European Society for Population Economics, June 14-16, 2007.
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: European Society for Population Economics (ESPE)
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Maternal Employment; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Welfare;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The effects of single mothers' welfare participation and work decisions on children's outcomes are important. First, theories and empirical studies regarding the effects of mothers' work on children's attainments yield ambiguous findings. Second, participating in AFDC also exhibits a negative statistical relationship with the participating children's possible outcomes of all sorts in the data. We develop a dynamic structural model of a single mother's work and welfare participation decisions while their children are young. This model is used to measure the effects of mothers' decisions on children's attainments in the short run. Using NLSY79 children's PIAT Math test scores as a measure of attainment, we find that single mother's work and welfare use in the first five years of her child's life both have positive effect on her child's outcome, but this effect declines by the initial ability. The higher the potential ability of child, the lower the positive impact work and welfare have. In fact, in case of welfare the effect is negative if child has more than about median initial ability.. Furthermore, we find that work requirement reduces a single mother's use of welfare. However, the net effect of work requirement on a child's test score depends on whether mother's work brings in enough labor income to compensate for the loss of welfare benefits. We also look at the implications of welfare eligibility time limit, child bonus, and maternal leave, on child's outcome.

Ozturk, Orgul Demet
Chyi, Hau
Welfare and Work Participation of Single Mothers and Children's Cognitive Development
Presented: New Orleans, LA, Southern Economic Association, November 19-21, 2007.
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Southern Economic Association
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Maternal Employment; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Welfare;

The effects of single mothers' welfare participation and work decisions on children's outcomes are important. First, theories and empirical studies regarding the effects of mothers' work on children's attainments yield ambiguous findings. Second, participating in AFDC also exhibits a negative statistical relationship with the participating children's possible outcomes of all sorts in the data. We develop a dynamic structural model of a single mother's work and welfare participation decisions while their children are young. This model is used to measure the effects of mothers' decisions on children's attainments in the short run. Using NLSY79 children's PIAT Math test scores as a measure of attainment, we find that single mother's work and welfare use in the first five years of her child's life both have positive effect on her child's outcome, but this effect declines by the initial ability. The higher the potential ability of child, the lower the positive impact work and welfare have. In fact, in case of welfare the effect is negative if child has more than about median initial ability.. Furthermore, we find that work requirement reduces a single mother's use of welfare. However, the net effect of work requirement on a child's test score depends on whether mother's work brings in enough labor income to compensate for the loss of welfare benefits. We also look at the implications of welfare eligibility time limit, child bonus, and maternal leave, on child's outcome.