Public Policies, Private Support and Single Mothers' Schooling, Work, and Child Care

Lingxin Hao, Arleen Leibowitz

Published 1994

This paper examines whether low-cost child care that is tied to single mothers' productive activities increases the likelihood of their schooling and work. Child care opportunities open to single mothers include coresident kin and certain public programs, e.g., subsidized child care places, AFDC earned income disregards for child care expenses, and child care tax credits for mothers who are attending school or working. Also examined in the paper is whether public programs are substitutes for kin support in affecting unmarried mothers' schooling, work, and, for enrolled or working women, child care type. Findings include: (1) public policies tied to single mothers' performance can stimulate their schooling and work, while those that are not tied to performance can deter productive activities; (2) living with kin increases schooling and work among unmarried mothers; (3) public programs tend not to substitute for kin support, in particular, not to reduce kin's incentives to care for children.

Order a Print Copy

Format
Paperback
Page count
41 pages
List Price
Free
Buy link
Add to Cart

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Available
  • Year: 1994
  • Print Format: Paperback
  • Paperback Pages: 41
  • List Price: Free
  • Document Number: DRU-853-NICHD

Citation

RAND Style Manual
Hao, Lingxin and Arleen Leibowitz, Public Policies, Private Support and Single Mothers' Schooling, Work, and Child Care, RAND Corporation, DRU-853-NICHD, 1994. As of September 11, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/drafts/DRU853.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Hao, Lingxin and Arleen Leibowitz, Public Policies, Private Support and Single Mothers' Schooling, Work, and Child Care. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1994. https://www.rand.org/pubs/drafts/DRU853.html. Also available in print form.
BibTeX RIS

Research conducted by

This publication is part of the RAND draft series. The unrestricted draft was a product of RAND from 1993 to 2003 that represented preliminary or prepublication versions of other, more formal RAND products for distribution to appropriate external audiences, similar to an academic discussion paper. Although unrestricted drafts have been approved for circulation, they were not usually formally edited or peer reviewed.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.