Child Support Enforcement and Bargaining among Married and Cohabiting Couples

Angela R. Fertig, Indiana University
Sara McLanahan, Princeton University

Child support enforcement policies enjoy widespread support from legislators because most people believe that fathers should support their children, even when they live in separate households. Less often emphasized is the potentially far-reaching impact of these policies on increasing the bargaining power of women. This paper examines the relationship between child support enforcement and bargaining power among married and cohabiting couples. Using state and city level measures constructed using administrative data and the Census matched onto individual level data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we find that living in a state with stricter child support enforcement is associated with a significantly higher probability that the father pays the bills for the household. There is also some evidence that the father is more likely to be supportive of the mother if they are married, but less likely to be supportive if they are cohabiting in strict enforcement states.