{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-02-18","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Laura Cuesta","affiliation":"Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey","email":"lcuesta@ssw.rutgers.edu"},{"name":"Jacobus de Hoop","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"jdehoop@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Hugo \u00d1opo","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"hnopoaguilar@worldbank.org"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for Raising Children Alone In Latin America And The Caribbean: Strong Mothers And Weak Social Assistance","idno":"RR_LAC_2026_567"},"data_statement":"All data are restricted and limited-access and have not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file. (Limited-access\/Restricted Data)","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"19.5 MP"},{"name":"Excel"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Raising Children Alone In Latin America And The Caribbean: Strong Mothers And Weak Social Assistance","date":"2026-02","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_LAC_2026_567","zip_package":"RR_LAC_2026_567.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-02-18","abstract":"Studies across countries find that single-mother households are socioeconomically disadvantaged. However, the heterogeneity of these households is regularly overlooked in the literature, with lone-mother households (with only one female adult) frequently undifferentiated from households in which a single mother lives with other adults. Using the Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Caribbean, we examine lone-mother households across 15 countries, focusing on the prevalence of lone motherhood, socioeconomic characteristics and outcomes, and the role of social assistance in improving the economic well-being of these households. Among households with children, the share of lone-mother households is steadily increasing. The same holds for the share of children growing up in lone-mother households. Lone mothers have higher labor force participation and are more likely to receive private and public transfers than women who raise children with other adults. Yet, at 45.5 percent, lone-mother households have comparatively high poverty rates in a region where the overall poverty rate is 26.8 percent. Our findings have implications for social policy and future research","geographic_units":[{"name":"Latin America","code":"LAC"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Single Motherhood"},{"name":"Lone Motherhood"},{"name":"Poverty"},{"name":"Latin America And The Caribbean"}],"topics":[{"id":"H55","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Social Security and Public Pensions","parent_id":"H5"},{"id":" I32","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Measurement and Analysis of Poverty","parent_id":"I3"},{"id":" J11","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts","parent_id":"J1"},{"id":" J12","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Marriage \u2022 Marital Dissolution \u2022 Family Structure \u2022 Domestic Abuse","parent_id":"J1"},{"id":" J13","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Fertility \u2022 Family Planning \u2022 Child Care \u2022 Children \u2022 Youth","parent_id":"J1"},{"id":" J16","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Economics of Gender \u2022 Non-labor Discrimination","parent_id":"J1"},{"id":" J18","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Public Policy","parent_id":"J1"},{"id":" J22","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Time Allocation and Labor Supply","parent_id":"J2"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"Raising Children Alone In Latin America And The Caribbean: Strong Mothers And Weak Social Assistance"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"technology_requirements":"~1.5 hours runtime.","disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"Modified BSD3","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/bsd-3-clause\/"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Laura Cuesta","affiliation":"Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey","email":"lcuesta@ssw.rutgers.edu"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the findings in this study, please follow the steps below:\n1. Obtain the data sets. The original data source is the World Bank Stata API datalibweb, for internal use only. If you are a World Bank employee, you can request access to the specific datasets listed in the README file. For most users, it will be very difficult to obtain all of the required data, as some datasets are confidential or require special approval processes.\n2. Update the file paths in `00_master.do`.\n3. Run `00_master.do`.","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise\n\u2022 Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 165U @ 2.60GHz\n\u2022 Memory available: 18 GB","datasets":[{"name":"Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Caribbean (SEDLAC)","note":"<code>\/input<\/code> directory must contain two subfolders: <code>2022<\/code> and <code>historical<\/code>.\nThe 2022 folder should include the harmonized country-level datasets used to construct the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) microdatasets. These files must be named exactly as follows: <code>countryname_2022.dta<\/code> (one file per country), <code>lac_circa_2022.dta<\/code>, <code>lac_circa_2022_variables.dta<\/code>, <code>lac_circa_2022-PCACL-9TQSQ74.dta<\/code>.\nThe historical folder must include country-level panel files covering the period 2007\u20132022. These files must follow the naming convention:\n<code>country code_year.dta<\/code> (e.g. <code>ARG_2007<\/code>).\nIn addition, the following Colombia datasets must be placed directly in the \/input folder (not inside subfolders):\n<ul>\n  <li>COL_2021_GEIH_v02_M_v01_A_SEDLAC-03_all.dta<\/li>\n  <li>COL_2022_GEIH_v01_M_v01_A_SEDLAC-03_all.dta<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nNote that these datasets are not available through datalibweb. The authors accessed these data through a special request to the LAC Stats Team (contact: lac_stats@worldbank.org). ","uri":"https:\/\/datalibweb2.worldbank.org\/ ","access_type":"Data access requires human approval and is not included in the reproducibility package.","citation":"CEDLAS and The World Bank. (n.d.) \"Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Caribbean (SEDLAC)\". World Bank Datalibweb. Accessed in January 2025. Available at https:\/\/datalibweb2.worldbank.org\/ ."}]},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open Code"},{"tag":"Restricted Data"}],"schematype":"script"}