Can Adequate Child Support Be Legislated? Responses to Guidelines and Enforcement

  1. Laura M. Argys1,
  2. H. Elizabeth Peters2,†

Article first published online: 26 MAR 2007

DOI: 10.1093/ei/cbg021

Issue

Economic Inquiry

Economic Inquiry

Volume 41, Issue 3, pages 463–479, July 2003

Additional Information

How to Cite

Argys, L. M. and Peters, H. E. (2003), Can Adequate Child Support Be Legislated? Responses to Guidelines and Enforcement. Economic Inquiry, 41: 463–479. doi: 10.1093/ei/cbg021

Author Information

  1. 1

    Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO 80217–3364. Phone 1–303–556–3949, Fax 1–303–556–3547, E-mail laura.argys@cudenver.edu

  2. 2

    Professor, Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853–4401. Phone 1–607–255–2595, Fax 1–607–255–0799, E-mail ep22@cornell.edu

  1. †

    This research was supported by NICHD grant #HD26555. We are grateful for comments from Mark Cronshaw, Ramana Polavarapu, Paul Schultz, William Schulze, and Robert Willis.

  • †

    This research was supported by NICHD grant #HD26555. We are grateful for comments from Mark Cronshaw, Ramana Polavarapu, Paul Schultz, William Schulze, and Robert Willis.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 26 MAR 2007
  2. Article first published online: 26 MAR 2007

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (256K)

This article explores the relationship between noncustodial parents' willingness to pay child support, state child support guidelines and enforcement efforts, and child support awards and subsequent compliance. Our game theoretic model, which distinguishes cases of asymmetric information from cases of symmetric information, demonstrates that guidelines and increased enforcement can increase payments when awards are court-ordered but may not increase payments and could even reduce child expenditures when some payment would otherwise have occurred voluntarily. Our analyses of awards to divorced or separated mothers from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are consistent with the model.

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (256K)