Mothers' and Fathers' Labor Supply in Fragile Families: The Role of Child Health

Hope Corman, Nancy E. Reichman, Kelly Noonan

NBER Working Paper No. 9918
Issued in August 2003
NBER Program(s):   HE   LS   CH

We estimate the effect of poor child health on the labor supply of mothers and fathers post welfare reform, using a national sample of mostly unwed parents and their children-a group at high risk of living in poverty. We account for the potential endogeneity of child health and find that having a young child in poor health reduces the mother's probability of working, the mother's hours of work, and the father's hours of work. These results suggest that children's health problems may diminish their parents' capacity to invest in their health.

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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w9918

Published:

• Corman, Hope, Kelly Noonan and Nancy Reichman. "Mothers' Labor Supply in Fragile Families: The Role of Child Health." Eastern Economics Journal 31, 4(Fall 2005): 601-616.
• Noonan, K., Reichman, N., Corman H. 2005. New Fathers’ Labor Supply: Does Child Health Matter? Social Science Quarterly 86(5): 1399–1417(19).

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