U.S. antipoverty tax credit expansion may have unintended costs for children's development

As part of U.S. welfare reforms in the 1990s to provide adequate financial support to low-income families while avoiding disincentivizing work, policymakers expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). This change encouraged people to work more by giving greater benefits with greater earned income, and single mothers faced stronger incentives to enter the workforce than married mothers.