'This urgently needed, groundbreaking book provides solid data that coincides with the real life stories I have been hearing for years from men and women nationwide regarding unfair child support laws and policies that have resulted in adverse effects on their children and families. I anticipate that this book will have a major positive impact on social policy and the general collective attitudes toward families in today's society. The information presented in this book must be read and understood by every policymaker to insure that child support policies are made just and fair so that all families can prosper.' - Dianna Thompson, National Family Justice Association, US The delinquent payment of child support by non-custodial to custodial parents is a major problem throughout the United States. To many observers, the problem is one of 'deadbeat dads' - men who simply will not make the required payments. The solution has been to enforce payment by the imposition of increasingly stringent civil and criminal penalties. Despite these efforts, the percentage of single mothers receiving child support has changed very little over the past twenty-five years. The Law and Economics of Child Support Payments investigates why this is, and approaches the payment of child support as an economic problem.