AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
The Impact of Family Tax Benefits on Children's Health and Educational Outcomes
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 114,
May 2024
(pp. 429–34)
Abstract
We leverage recent income support reforms for families with children in Canada to investigate the impact of child benefits on child health and educational outcomes. Using administrative school data from British Columbia linked to parents' tax files, we find evidence that increased family benefit generosity improved children's mental health, but little evidence of any change in test scores from standardized exams. Our results suggest that most of the mental health effect is concentrated among girls and that relative improvements in mental health were larger among children in higher-income families.Citation
Baker, Michael, Kourtney Koebel, and Mark Stabile. 2024. "The Impact of Family Tax Benefits on Children's Health and Educational Outcomes." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 114: 429–34. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20241105Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H24 Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes
- I12 Health Behavior
- I21 Analysis of Education
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination