The Effects of the Monthly and Lump-Sum Child Tax Credit Payments on Food and Housing Hardship
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 113,
May 2023
(pp. 406-12)
Abstract
We investigate the effects of the expanded 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) on material hardship among households with children over April 2021–May 2022, using the Census Household Pulse Survey and difference-in-difference analyses of household types with different eligibility. Monthly CTC payments (July–December 2021) reduced food insufficiency by at least 2.4 pp (20 percent); the spring 2022 lump-sum payment reduced the likelihood that households were behind on rent by at least 1.2 pp (10 percent). Results are consistent with spending lump sums differently from monthly payments, the former going disproportionately toward arrears and the latter toward ongoing food/nutrition costs.Citation
Parolin, Zachary, Elizabeth Ananat, Sophie Collyer, Megan Curran, and Christopher Wimer. 2023. "The Effects of the Monthly and Lump-Sum Child Tax Credit Payments on Food and Housing Hardship." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 113: 406-12. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20231088Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- G51 Household Finance: Household Saving, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
- H24 Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes
- H31 Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents: Household
- I12 Health Behavior
- I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth