TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Hansen, Jörgen
AU  - Shaha, Bidhan Chandra
        TI  - Lone Motherhood, Childhood Resources, and the Dynamics of Skill Formation
        PY  - 2026/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 19048
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp19048
        AB  - Children who experience lone motherhood differ from children who remain with both biological parents before family transitions occur, complicating observed family structure gaps. Using the Children of the NLSY79, we estimate a dynamic model of family arrangements, financial resources, parental investment, and child skills with persistent family heterogeneity. A transition into lone motherhood at age 7 generates a persistent resource decline and gradually widening skill differences, reducing schooling and adult wages. A Shapley decomposition attributes about 94 percent of the adult effects to the resource-to-skill pathway. Complementary counterfactuals show that timing and persistence shape the developmental consequences of family change.
        KW  - family structure
KW  - financial resources
KW  - child development
KW  - cash transfers
KW  - skill formation
KW  - latent heterogeneity
        ER  -