New Research Reports
The Build Back Better Plan Would Reduce the Motherhood Penalty
The Century Foundation | Julie Kashen and Jessica Milli | October 8, 2021
This analysis found that the typical woman with no children currently would experience a motherhood penalty that amounts to an average decrease of $7,567 in annual earnings per child under age 5 that she decides to have. The model shows that adopting child care and preschool policies would result in an additional $2,463 per year on average for mothers with young children—that’s about a one-third decrease in the motherhood penalty.
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America’s Families and the Child Tax Credit: Results from a National Survey of Eligible Parents
Center for Law and Social Policy | Shruti Bathia and Asami Takagi | October 4, 2021
The expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) provides monthly advance payments to eligible families with kids and is anticipated to reduce child poverty by nearly 40% in 2021. The CTC expansions will have even greater poverty reducing impacts for Black children. Research shows that when families have more income from refundable tax credits, children have better educational, health, and economic outcomes into adulthood. But children, families, and communities will not experience these positive impacts unless families know about the advance CTC payments and are able to access them.
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WIC Coordination with Medicaid and SNAP
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | Zoë Neuberger | October 1, 2021
By enrolling a greater share of Medicaid and SNAP participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), states can support healthier pregnancies, improve birth outcomes, and improve child health and cognitive development for low-income families, potentially reducing striking racial disparities. This report draws on information the CBPP collected during the summer of 2021 to describe various ways that state WIC agencies are collaborating with their state’s Medicaid and SNAP programs.
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Estimating the Net Fiscal Cost of a Child Tax Credit Expansion
National Bureau of Economic Research | Jacob Goldin, Elaine Maag, and Katherine Michelmore | October 2021
Researchers study the fiscal cost of three Child Tax Credit (CTC) proposals that would expand refundability of the credit to low-income children, increase the maximum credit amount, and/or eliminate the income phase-out to make the credit universal. The study finds that direct costs are by far the most important component but that long-term earning changes also play an important role, offsetting one-third or more of the direct costs.
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Restoring Access to Maternity Care in Rural America
The Commonwealth Fund | Martha Hostetter and Sarah Klein | September 30, 2021
Nearly half of rural U.S. counties are maternity care deserts where lack of access to obstetric care contributes to rising maternal death rates. This report profiles regional partnerships that aim to bolster access to maternity care in rural communities. Experts in the field see such efforts as first steps in rebuilding access to maternity care across the country — steps that are necessary but not sufficient to tackle maternal outcomes that are the worst among wealthy nations and relate to poverty, racism, and sexism as well as health system dysfunction.
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