Most children in the United States will spend at least part of their childhood living apart from one of their parents; the child support system is designed to ensure that they nonetheless receive financial support. While the system is largely effective when noncustodial parents have substantial regular earnings, many noncustodial parents, including a disproportionate share of those whose children live in poverty, have limited earnings and ability to pay child support. The system's response to nonpayment is primarily “sticks,” that is, threats and punishments. Nonexperimental evaluations of alternative approaches have shown promise. The National Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED), a large-scale random-assignment evaluation enrolling more than 10,000 noncustodial parents across 18 locations in eight states, was designed to test the effectiveness of an alternative approach—adjusting child support orders, reducing punitive enforcement, and offering employment and parenting services. We find that CSPED, using carrots in place of sticks, substantially increased the satisfaction of noncustodial parents with child support services, lowered the amount of support owed, and increased noncustodial parents’ sense of responsibility for their children. However, CSPED had limited to no effects on child support compliance, child support payments, or employment outcomes.

中文翻译：

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胡萝卜比大棒更好用吗？全国儿童抚养非监护父母就业示范的结果

美国的大多数儿童将至少在童年的一部分时间里与父母分开生活；儿童抚养系统旨在确保他们仍然获得经济支持。虽然当非监护父母有大量固定收入时，该系统在很大程度上是有效的，但许多非监护父母，包括不成比例的孩子生活在贫困中的父母，收入和支付子女抚养费的能力有限。系统对不付款的反应主要是“棍子”，即威胁和惩罚。替代方法的非实验性评估已显示出希望。全国儿童抚养非监护父母就业示范 (CSPED)，一项大规模随机分配评估，在八个州的 18 个地点招募了 10,000 多名非监护父母，旨在测试替代方法的有效性——调整儿童抚养令、减少惩罚性执法以及提供就业和育儿服务。我们发现，使用胡萝卜代替大棒的 CSPED 显着提高了非监护父母对儿童抚养服务的满意度，降低了所欠抚养费的数量，并提高了非监护父母对孩子的责任感。但是，CSPED 对子女抚养费合规性、子女抚养费或就业结果的影响有限。显着提高了非监护父母对子女抚养服务的满意度，降低了所欠抚养费的金额，并增强了非监护父母对子女的责任感。但是，CSPED 对子女抚养费合规性、子女抚养费或就业结果的影响有限。显着提高了非监护父母对子女抚养服务的满意度，降低了所欠抚养费的金额，并增强了非监护父母对子女的责任感。但是，CSPED 对子女抚养费合规性、子女抚养费或就业结果的影响有限。