CSDE Impact Analysis: The Experimental Evaluation
The CSDE impact analysis drew two primary sources:
- linked state administrative-record data from the child support, Wisconsin Works, and Unemployment Insurance programs
- a survey of resident and nonresident parents, who were interviewed twice, once in 1999 and once in 2000.
The interviews covered knowledge of W-2, details of child support payments, involvement of the nonresident parent with the child, informal cash and in-kind payments, living arrangements, parental conflict and child-parent conflict, employment history, other program participation, and health insurance status. These survey data provide measures of independent and dependent variables not available in the administrative records, permitting a check on the extent to which participants in experimental and control groups were aware of the requirements and procedures of the group, and providing some capability for an independent assessment of the completeness of the administrative records. Another wave of the survey will be in 2004, under the second evaluation.
The Phase I Final Report of the Experimental Evaluation showed that Wisconsin’s full pass-through was able to increase the amounts of support received by children in economically vulnerable families, to increase child support collections,and to have other positive effects, at little cost to government. These effects were larger among those more likely to be new to the child support and welfare systems. The results suggest that government retention of child support, the policy in most states, may have detrimental effects on families while offering little fiscal benefit. In contrast, the benefits to children of establishing paternity and setting a pattern of child support payments are potentially more enduring. Because no experimental evaluation of the overall W-2 program was implemented, the impact of the W-2 program could not be formally evaluated, but the CSDE report explored several aspects of the lives of W-2 families and assessed measures of economic success and general well-being.
The Phase 2 Final Report compared experimental results for W-2 entrants who entered at the outset and others who entered later, after the program and pass-through policy were more fully implemented. For the most part, no differences in effects were found, and the overall efficacy of the full pass-through in increasing child support continued.
Publications
W-2 Child Support Demonstration Evaluation, Phase 1: The Final Report, April 2001
Volume I: Effects of the Experiment, Executive Summary
Volume II: The Well-Being of W-2 Families, Executive Summary
Volume III: Technical Reports
W-2 Child Support Demonstration Evaluation, Phase 2: Final Report, July 2003