State-Level Safety Net Investments, Family Economic Wellbeing and Children’s Educational Development Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the wellbeing of children and families, with more disadvantaged households being the most impacted. State-level public spending on programs targeting children is designed to mitigate such disparities. However, the impacts of the large increase in public spending during the pandemic, which states had considerable control over, have not been examined. Sociologist Margot Jackson and psychologist Taryn Morrissey will examine how public investments during the pandemic impacted family resources and child wellbeing and how outcomes vary by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity. They will analyze data from the State-by-State Spending on Kids Dataset and the State Safety Net Database for their study.