This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Wyss, B. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Gender and cash child support in Jamaica

Department of Economics, Wheaton College, Norton, MA 02766, USA; Tel.: + 1-508-286-3665; fax: + 1-508-286-3650. bwyss{at}wheatonma.edu

Nonresident parents pay a small proportion of the total pecuniary costs of raising children in Jamaica. This paper uses household survey data to identify conditions that promote cash support by absent parents. The paper highlights several ways in which gender influences Jamaican child support decisions. Absent fathers contribute cash support more consistently than absent mothers do, and absent fathers support their daughters more consistently than they support sons. Gendered norms of resource transfer in adult relationships help explain low levels of paternal support for children. But results from Jamaica cast doubt on the argument that male poverty explains most paternal default on child support obligations.

Key Words: Jamaica • Child support • Gender

Review of Radical Political Economics, Vol. 33, No. 4, 415-439 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/048661340103300404


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?