The Effects of the 2021 Monthly Child Tax Credit on Child and Family Well-Being: Evidence from New York City
This article uses data from two longitudinal studies of well-being in New York City to show that the 2021's expanded monthly Child Tax Credit led to significant declines in experiences of material hardship and multiple hardships, running out of money, and use of food pantries. It did not show evidence of the monthly payments reducing parents’ employment or affecting their mental health.
Exposure to Childhood Poverty and Racial Differences in Economic Opportunity in Young Adulthood
This article uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to reveal that racial differences in childhood poverty are more consequential than differential attainment of education, employment, and family formation benchmarks in shaping racial differences in young adult poverty.
State Child Tax Credits and Child Poverty: A 50-State Analysis
This report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University on behalf of Share Our Strength details state options on how to use state Child Tax Credits to dramatically reduce child poverty.
Research Roundup of the Expanded Child Tax Credit: One Year On
Since the introduction of the monthly Child Tax Credit in July 2021, a continuous stream of research has tracked its impact on children and their families. More than one year on, this updated research roundup reviews evidence through early November 2022, providing a richer understanding of the effects of the expanded Child Tax Credit while in place and the effects of its expiration.
No Evidence the Child Tax Credit Expansion Had an Effect on the Well-Being and Mental Health of Parents
Moderate-to-large cash transfers have been found to improve subjective well-being and mental health. In the case of the recent Child Tax Credit expansion, there was no evidence that it had a significant short-term impact on measures of life satisfaction, anxiety, and depression symptomology among adult recipients and the authors speculate that this may be due to the expansion’s temporary nature.
The 2021 Child Tax Credit Expansion: Child Poverty Reduction and the Children Formerly Left Behind
This policy brief shows how well the expanded Child Tax Credit did in reducing child poverty relative to prior law. It simulates the pre-ARP version of the Child Tax Credit in 2021 data and compares the actual child poverty reduction in 2021 to what it would have been absent the expansion.
A Step in the Right Direction: The Expanded Child Tax Credit Would Move the United States’ High Child Poverty Rate Closer to Peer Nations
The United States has one of the highest rates of child poverty among wealthy democracies. The expanded Child Tax Credit would move the U.S. child poverty rate closer to the mainstream: from 31st to 24th among the 34 advanced democracies with comparable data.
The Benefits and Costs of a U.S. Child Allowance
This benefit-cost analysis of a U.S. child allowance indicates that making the $2000 Child Tax Credit fully refundable and increasing benefits to $3000/$3600 would cost $97 billion per year and generate social benefits of $929 billion per year, a very strong return for the U.S. population.
Keeping Up with Inflation: How policy indexation can enhance poverty reduction
As families across the United States contend with record-high inflation, the values of several government benefits and tax credits are not keeping up. This paper, published by the Century Foundation, examines the antipoverty potential of one policy, the expanded Child Tax Credit, under different scenarios to shine a spotlight on the importance of inflation indexation for optimizing the antipoverty effects of government policies.
Comparing the Performance of Monthly Poverty Measures
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the problem of using a once-per-year, annual poverty measure to make pressing policy decisions. This prompted researchers to develop methods to provide more timely estimates of poverty. This paper compares two monthly poverty measures—one developed by Parolin, Curran, Matsudaira, Waldfogel, and Wimer and the other by Han, Meyer, and Sullivan—to assess their performance relative to external benchmarks of material hardship and mental health challenges.
Estimating Monthly Poverty Rates in the United States
Official poverty estimates for the United States are presented annually and with a considerable lag. This study introduces a framework to produce monthly poverty estimates.
“Racial Discrimination Has Changed My Daily Life”
This report compares the racial discrimination experiences and racism-related vigilance among Chinese Americans in New York City and California and reveals that over half of Chinese Americans experienced some form of discrimination in both locations. Even more Chinese Americans endured high levels of racism-related vigilance.
The EITC and the CTC Give Temporary Income Boost to Low-Income Families
Due to refundable tax credits, monthly poverty fell from 14.4% in February 2022 to 10.8% in March 2022, and for children from 16.7% to 9.9%.
Monthly Cash Payments Reduce Spells of Poverty Across the Year
Taking the expanded Child Tax Credit under the American Rescue Plan and the existing Earned Income Tax Credit as examples, this brief shows how monthly benefit delivery has the power to smooth within-year volatility in incomes and reduce child poverty year-round.
Understanding the Potential Reach of the Affordable Connectivity Program
This fact sheet provides an overview of the population eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program. Across the country, an estimated 48.6 million households are eligible for the program, including 10.3 million households without high-speed internet and 11.3 million households without any internet or broadband.
Monthly Poverty Remains Elevated in February
Monthly poverty remained elevated in February 2022, with a 14.4 percent poverty rate for the total US population and 16.7 percent for children.
The Role of Government Transfers in the Black-White Child Poverty Gap
This policy brief examines the role of government transfers and tax credits in closing the Black-White child poverty gap. Government transfers and tax credits are effective in raising incomes for Black children in poverty, yet are entirely ineffective in closing the Black-White child poverty gap.
Paying for Child Care to Work? Evaluating the Role of Policy in Affordable Care and Child Poverty
Most working parents need child care. We analyze two approaches to reduce child-care expenses for low-income working families: 1) making the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit fully refundable and increasing its generosity, and 2) providing subsidies to increase affordability.
Absence of Monthly Child Tax Credit Leads to 3.7 Million More Children in Poverty in January 2022
Without the Child Tax Credit, the monthly child poverty rate increased from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17 percent in January 2022, the highest rate since the end of 2020.
Sixth Child Tax Credit Payment Kept 3.7 Million Children Out of Poverty in December
The sixth Child Tax Credit payment kept 3.7 million children from poverty in December. In absence of a January payment though, the monthly child poverty rate could potentially increase from 12.1 percent to at least 17.1 percent in early 2022—the highest monthly child poverty rate since December 2020.