American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Changes in Family Structure and Welfare Participation since the 1960s: The Role of Legal Services
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 17,
no. 1, January 2025
(pp. 369–401)
Abstract
This paper evaluates the effects of the War on Poverty's legal services program (LSP), which provided subsidized legal assistance to poor communities, focusing on divorce and welfare access. We use a difference-in-difference (DiD) research design based on the program's rollout from 1965 to 1975. We find temporary increases in the rate of new divorces and persistent increases in welfare participation, consistent with LSP activities. We find increases in nonmarital birth rates that stem from falling marriage rates rather than rising birth rates. Expanded access to legal institutions thus contributed directly and indirectly to changes in family structure in the 1960s.Citation
Cunningham, Jamein, and Andrew Goodman-Bacon. 2025. "Changes in Family Structure and Welfare Participation since the 1960s: The Role of Legal Services." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 17 (1): 369–401. DOI: 10.1257/app.20210117Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H53 National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
- I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
- K36 Family and Personal Law
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