The Effect of Child Support on Selection into Marriage and Fertility
研究了1977至1992年美国子女抚养费政策扩张对婚姻和生育决策的影响，发现该政策降低了结婚概率和堕胎率。
This paper studies the expansion of US child support policies from 1977 to 1992 and its consequences for marriage and fertility decisions. I develop a model showing that child support enforces ex ante commitment from men to provide financial support in the event of a child, which (1) increases premarital sex among couples unlikely to marry and (2) reduces the abortion rate by reducing the cost of child-rearing to single moms. Using variation in the rollout relative to the timing of nonmarital pregnancy, I find that child support policies reduced the likelihood of marriage and reduced the abortion rate.