Research Summary:Robert Plotnick is Professor of Public Affairs, Adjunct Professor of Economics, and Director Emeritus of CSDE. His research is distinguished by its contributions to understanding how income support and related social welfare policies affect demographic behavior and economic well-being. It is grounded in the economic perspective on behavior but has a strong multidisciplinary orientation.
Plotnick has a sustained record of research on the determinants and consequences of early and nonmarital childbearing (Klepinger, Lundberg and Plotnick 1999, Lundberg and Plotnick, 1990, 1995; Plotnick, 1990, 1992b, 1993; Plotnick and Butler, 1991; Plotnick and Hoffman, 1999). A recent facet of this research has examined whether stronger child support enforcement, which increases the expected costs of fatherhood for absent fathers, tends to lower the likelihood of nonmarital childbearing (Plotnick et al 2004, 2005). Other recent work has analyzed the relationships between teenagers’ personal and family background characteristics and their expectations about marriage, parenthood, and nonmarital childbearing.
Plotnick's work on child support and premarital childbearing dovetails with his longstanding interest in American income support programs, poverty, and income inequality. He, Elizabeth Peters and Se-Ook Jeong (2003) reviewed and synthesized the empirical evidence about welfare's demographic effects to assess the likely effect of the 1996 welfare reform on demographic behavior. His publications on demographic and other determinants of welfare use are among the few analyses of entry into welfare (Edwards, Plotnick and Klawitter, 2001; Klawitter, Plotnick and Edwards, 2000). Recent work used the PSID to examine the effect of parental welfare receipt on children's educational attainment as young adults (Ku and Plotnick 2003).
Plotnick's current research is analyzing the consequences of childlessness for the economic and health status of elders. The project is developing a model of the life-cycle and short term linkages between childlessness and economic and health status and using the Health and Retirement Survey to empirically examine the relationship between childlessness and a large range of economic and health outcomes.
Recent Publications:- Pecora, P.; Whittaker, J.; Maluccio, A.; Richard Barth; DePanfilis, D.; Plotnick, R. D., (Forthcoming), Economic security for families with children, The Child Welfare Challenge: Policy, Practice and Research, Aldine de Gruyter Publishing.
- Plotnick, R. D., (Forthcoming), Childlessness and the Economic Well-being of Older Americans, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
- Zerbe, R. O.; Plotnick, R. D.; Kessler, R. C.; Pecora, P. J.; Hiripi, E. V. A.; O'Brien, K.; Williams, J.; English, D.; White, J., (2009), BENEFITS AND COSTS OF INTENSIVE FOSTER CARE SERVICES: THE CASEY FAMILY PROGRAMS COMPARED TO STATE SERVICES, Contemporary Economic Policy.
- Kessler, R. C.; Pecora, P. J.; Williams, J.; Hiripi, E.; O’Brien, K.; English, D.; White, J.; Zerbe, R.; Downs, A. C.; Plotnick, R.; Hwang, I.; Sampson, N. A., (2008), The effects of enhanced foster care on the long-term physical and mental health of foster care alumni, Archives of General Psychiatry, 65, 625-633.
- Plotnick, R., (2008), Poverty and Discrimination [by Kevin Lang], Industrial & labor relations review., 61: 2, 265.
- Plotnick, R. D., (2007), Adolescent expectations and desires about marriage and parenthood, Journal of Adolescence, 30: 6, 943-963.
- Plotnick, R. D.; Garfinkel, I.; McLanahan, S. S.; Ku, I., (2007), The Impact of Child Support Enforcement Policy on Nonmarital Childbearing, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26: 1, 79-98.
- Plotnick, R. D., (2006), Welfare dynamics, International Encyclopedia of Social Policy, Fitzpatrick, T.; Kwon, H.-j.; Manning, N.; Midgely, J.; Pascall, G., Routledge Ltd., London.
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Ph.D. 1976, University of California-Berkeley. Labor economics; social demography; social welfare policy.
