Income and Child Development

We examine how income influences pre-school children’s cognitive and behavioral development, using new data from a birth cohort study of children born at the end of the 20th century. On average, low income children have lower PPVT scores, more mother-reported aggressive, withdrawn, and anxious behavior problems, and also more interviewer-reported problems with behavior, than more affluent children. For most outcomes, differences in the home environments are sufficient to explain the link between low income and poorer child outcomes. Policy simulations indicate that income transfers can potentially play an important role in reducing gaps in development between poorer and richer children.

Prenatal Cocaine Exposure: Long‐Run Effects and Policy Implications

In this article, we review the literature regarding prenatal cocaine exposure and child development. We then reexamine current child welfare policies in light of that literature, paying particular attention to laws that mandate reporting substance‐exposed newborns and substance use during pregnancy as well as policies that view such reports as prima facie evidence of child maltreatment. Finally, we reassess the utility of such policies, given our current knowledge of the long‐term effects of prenatal exposure, and consider alternative approaches to protecting children who are born to parents who are using crack cocaine

Understanding Young Women's Marriage Decisions: The Role of Labor and Marriage Market Conditions

Using the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Censuses, the authors investigate the impact of labor and marriage market conditions on the incidence of marriage of young women (age 16-24). They first estimate the effects on marriage of personal characteristics and Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) indicators, separately by race and education group. They then regress the first-stage MSA effects on MSA-level labor and marriage market conditions and welfare benefits, taking account of fixed effects and time trends specific to each MSA. Better female labor markets, worse female marriage markets, and worse male labor markets are found to lower marriage rates for whites in all education groups. Results for these variables for blacks are sensitive to estimation technique, although stronger results are obtained for an older age group (25-34). While welfare benefits have a negative effect in cross-sectional analyses, the association becomes considerably weaker in fixed effects specifications

First-Year Maternal Employment and Child Outcomes: Differences Across Racial and Ethnic Groups

We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine associations between first-year maternal employment and child outcomes for 3-year-old white, Black, and Hispanic children. We find that first-year maternal employment is associated with lower vocabulary scores for white, but not Black or Hispanic, children and with elevated levels of aggressive behavior problems for Hispanic, but not white or Black, children. Factors such as the timing and intensity of employment, family structure, and maternal education sometimes moderate these associations, but do not explain differences across racial and ethnic groups. Child care and parenting behaviors do not appear to mediate associations between first-year maternal employment and children’s outcomes and cannot explain racial and ethnic differences in these associations.

Mothers, Men, and Child Protective Services Involvement

This study used data on 2,297 families from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine whether Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement varies by maternal relationship status. Families were categorized according to whether the mother was living with a (male) partner or spouse, was involved in a dating relationship, or was not romantically involved. Families in which the mother was romantically involved were further delineated by whether her partner was the biological father of none, some, or all of the children in her household. Results indicated that families in which the mother was living with a man who was not the biological father of all children and those in which she was not romantically involved were significantly more likely to be contacted by CPS than those in which she was living with the biological father of all resident children. These findings withstood the inclusion of detailed controls for the mother's characteristics and behaviors and (in two-parent families) her partner's characteristics and behaviors, suggesting that they are not fully explained by observable social selection factors

Income and Child Development

We examine how income is associated with the home environments and the cognitive and behavioral development of pre-school children using data from a birth cohort study of children born at the end of the 20th century. Lower-income 3-year-old children are more likely than wealthier children to live in homes with inadequate physical environments and to have mothers who are more likely to be stressed, depressed, harsh and unresponsive. Additionally, low income children have lower PPVT scores, more mother-reported aggressive, withdrawn, and anxious behavior problems, and also more interviewer-reported problems with behavior, than more affluent children. A key policy question is whether increases in the incomes of poor families would result in improvements in children's outcomes, at least in part through improvements in the home environment. This question is difficult to answer using observational data. However, we argue that, even under the most generous interpretation of the associations we estimate, large income transfer programs would have relatively small effects on children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes

Dealing with digital: the economic organisation of streamed music

© The Author(s) 2020. The intervention of digital service providers (DSPs) or platforms, such as Spotify Apple Music and Tidal, that supply streamed music has fundamentally altered the operation of copyright management organisations (CMOs) and the way song-writers and recording artists are paid. Platform economics has emerged from the economic analysis of two- and multi-sided markets, offering new insights into the way business is conducted in the digital sphere and is applied here to music streaming services. The business model for music streaming differs from previous arrangements by which the royalty paid to song-writers and performers was a percentage of sales. In the case of streamed music, payment is based on revenues from both subscriptions and ad-based free services. The DSP agrees a rate per stream with the various rights holders that varies according to the deal made with each of the major record labels, with CMOs, with representatives of independent labels and with unsigned artists and song-writers with consequences for artists’ earnings. The article discusses these various strands with a view to understanding royalty payments for streamed music in terms of platform economics, offering some data and information from the Norwegian music industry to give empirical support to the analysis

First-year maternal employment and child outcomes: Differences across racial and ethnic groups

We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine associations between first-year maternal employment and child outcomes for 3-year-old White, Black, and Hispanic children (N = 1483). Results from OLS regressions and propensity score matching models indicate that first-year maternal employment is associated with lower vocabulary scores for White, but not Black or Hispanic, children and with elevated levels of behavior problems for Hispanic, but not White or Black, children. Factors such as type of child care, maternal depressive symptoms and stress, and parenting behaviors (including measures of discipline, nurturance, and provision of cognitively stimulating materials) do not mediate these associations between first-year maternal employment and children's outcomes or explain the differential associations across racial and ethnic groups, suggesting the need to look at other explanations for these associations, as well as the need for better measurement of parenting, especially mother–child interaction

Caseworker-Perceived Caregiver Substance Abuse and Child Protective Services Outcomes

The authors used data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being to examine associations of child protective services (CPS) caseworkers' perceptions of caregiver substance abuse with their perceptions of the severity of risk and harm a child experienced as a result of alleged maltreatment, as well as with whether a family experienced a range of CPS outcomes. The outcomes included whether the family received services from CPS, was substantiated for maltreatment, experienced child removal, and was subject to a termination of parental rights (TPR) petition. The authors also compared the magnitude of the association between caseworker-perceived caregiver substance abuse and each outcome to that of the association between other maltreatment-related risk factors and each outcome. Findings suggest that, all else equal, caseworker-perceived caregiver substance abuse is associated with increased caseworker perceptions that children have experienced severe risk and harm and also with an increased probability of each of the CPS outcomes except TPR. Moreover, these associations are equal in magnitude or larger than those between the other risk factors and the outcomes. These findings imply that CPS decisions are heavily influenced by caseworker perceptions of caregiver substance abuse, regardless of the presence of other risk factors for child maltreatment

Has the Price of Motherhood Declined Over Time? A Cross-Cohort Comparison of the Motherhood Wage Penalty

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73089/1/j.1741-3737.2003.00597.x.pd