Document Type

Capstone Project

Publication Date

Summer 7-15-2019

Keywords

Stevenson Center, Earned Income Tax Credit, Economics, Community Development, Fertility, Birth Rates, Tax, State Programs, Federal Programs, Tax Code

Abstract

This paper utilizes a nine-period panel dataset and a first-difference equation to analyze to what extent state administered Earned Income Tax Credits to tax-filers impact the fertility rate among a state’s population. Utilizing data from the American Community Survey, the IRS, and the Center for Disease Control, changes in fertility rates are regressed upon a first-difference model, which includes year fixed effects, that controls for changes in state-level variables such as household income, female education, female labor supply, changes in the amount of a state’s population receiving the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the average amount that each household receives through the state administered Earned Income Tax Credit. The study finds that the marginal effect of the state administered contributions to tax-filers through a state’s Earned Income Tax Credit program does not have a significant effect on the state’s fertility rates. However, the model suggests that the number of households in a state’s population who receive benefits from the Earned Income Tax Credit program has a negative effect on fertility rates.

Download

Included in

Economics Commons

Share

COinS