[Children in single-mother families: economic insecurity and policy dilemmas]

"In the absence of government assistance, most mother-only families would be poor and economically insecure.... Government can reduce economic insecurity, but doing so will increase dependence on government....This creates a major dilemma for policy makers: whether to give priority to reducing economic insecurity or whether to give priority to reducing dependence and prevalence. In this paper we address key questions relevant to the dilemma: the extent of insecurity, dependence, and prevalence; the role of government in producing and maintaining all three; and the experience of single mothers and their children in the United States as compared to those in other advanced industrial nations.... Evidence from both international comparisons and American experience during the past 20 years indicates that a further reduction in welfare benefits will increase poverty and insecurity. Furthermore, the beneficial effects on dependence and prevalence are not likely to be great." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND SPA)