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Our article utilizes variation across the 50 U.S. states to examine the relationship between public expenditures on children & child outcomes. We find that public expenditures on children are related to better child outcomes across a wide range of indicators including measures of child mortality, elementary school test scores, & adolescent behavioral outcomes. States that spend more on children have better child outcomes even after taking into account a number of potential confounding influences. Our results are robust to numerous variations in model specifications & to the inclusion of proxies for unobserved characteristics of states. Our sensitivity analyses suggest that the results we present may be conservative, yet our findings reveal a strong relationship between state generosity toward children & children's well-being. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) has become an increasingly important element of the U.S. safety net. We discuss the structure of the CTC and its effects on childhood poverty and other indicators of well-being during its three distinct phases: prior to the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) expansion, during the expansion, and after the expansion's expiration. We also examine recent efforts to establish state-level CTCs. We show that, in 2020, roughly one in three children were ineligible for the full CTC because it is tied to family earnings. The temporary expansion under the ARP extended full CTC eligibility to nearly all of these children, thus moving more than three million children out of poverty in the expansion months. State-level analyses show how states could establish CTCs that reduce child poverty rates by half, either as a complement to an expanded federal CTC or in the absence of a continued federal expansion.

AbstractThis article conducts a benefit-cost analysis of a child allowance. Through a systematic literature review of the highest quality evidence on the causal effects of cash and near-cash transfers, this article produces core estimates on the benefits and costs per child and per adult of increasing household income by $1000, which can be used for any cash or near-cash program that increases household income. We then apply these estimates to three child allowance proposals, with the main proposal converting the $2000 Child Tax Credit in the federal income tax code into a fully refundable and more generous child allowance of $3600 per child ages 0–5 and $3000 per child ages 6–17, as enacted for 1 year in the American Rescue Plan. Aggregate costs and benefits are estimated via micro-simulation. Our estimates indicate that making the $2000 Child Tax Credit fully refundable and increasing benefits to $3000/$3600 would cost $97 billion per year and generate social benefits of $929 billion per year. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the results are robust to alternative assumptions and that each of the three child allowance proposals produces a very strong to an extraordinarily strong return for the U.S. population.

AbstractThe use of savings products to promote financial inclusion has increasingly become a policy priority across sub‐Saharan Africa, yet little is known about how families respond to varying levels of savings incentives and whether the promotion of incentivized savings in low‐resource settings may encourage households to restrict expenditures on basic needs. Using data from a randomized controlled trial in Uganda, we examine: (1) whether low‐income households enrolled in an economic‐empowerment intervention consisting of matched savings, workshops, and mentorship reduced spending on basic needs and (2) how varied levels of matching contributions affected household savings and consumption behavior. We compared primary school‐attending AIDS‐affected children (N = 1,383) randomized to a control condition with two intervention arms with differing savings‐match incentives: 1:1 (Bridges) and 1:2 (Bridges PLUS). We found that: (1) 24 months post‐intervention initiation, children in Bridges and Bridges PLUS were more likely to have accumulated savings than children in the control condition; (2) higher match incentives (Bridges PLUS) led to higher deposit frequency but not higher savings in the bank; (3) intervention participation did not result in material hardship; and (4) in both intervention arms, participating families were more likely to start a family business and diversify their assets.

Reuse of record except for individual research requires license from Congressional Information Service, Inc. ; At head of title: 93d Congress, 1st session. Joint Committee Print. ; CIS Microfiche Accession Numbers: CIS 74 J842-6 ; pt. 1. Garfinkel, Irwin. Income transfer programs and work effort--a review.--pt. 2. Rea, Samuel A., Jr. Trade-offs between alternative income maintenance programs.--pt. 3. Cain, Glen G. and Watts, Harold W. An examination of recent cross-sectional evidence on labor force response to income maintenance legislation. ; Microfiche. ; Mode of access: Internet.