Expenditures on children and child support guidelines

This article examines the literature that estimates parental expenditures on children; describes the types of child support guidelines that are being used by the states; and compares how the child support awards that emerge from each state's guidelines compare to the empirical estimates of expe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of policy analysis and management 1993-07, Vol.12 (3), p.478-497
Main Authors: Bassi, Laurie J., Barnow, Burt S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjusted gross income
Child Care
Child costs
Child support
Children
Custodial parents
Estimators
Expenditure
Income estimates
Income level
Income shares
Law
Noncustodial parent
Parents
Public Policy
Social security
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Description
Summary:This article examines the literature that estimates parental expenditures on children; describes the types of child support guidelines that are being used by the states; and compares how the child support awards that emerge from each state's guidelines compare to the empirical estimates of expenditure patterns on children. The findings indicate that the states' guidelines appear to be more or less consistent with the estimates of expenditures on children. In a few cases, however, the guidelines require less in support from the noncustodial parent than the parent would have spent on the child(ren) in an average intact family. In many other cases, the guidelines require child support payments that are very close to the lower bound of the estimates of expenditures. This article concludes with a discussion of the difficult value judgments that ultimately must be made in setting child support awards.
ISSN:0276-8739
1520-6688
DOI:10.2307/3325302