This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. Journal of Economic Literature
  4. December 2002
  5. Evaluating Welfare Reform in the United States

Journal of Economic Literature

ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)

Evaluating Welfare Reform in the United States

  • Rebecca M. Blank
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 40, no. 4, December 2002
(pp. 1105–1166)
Download Full Text PDF

Abstract

This paper reviews the economic literature on welfare reform over the 1990s. A brief summary of the policy changes is followed by a discussion of the methodological techniques that analyze the effects of these changes on outcomes. The paper then critically reviews the econometric and experimental literature on caseload changes, labor force changes, poverty and income changes, and family formation changes. A growing body of evidence suggests that recent policy changes have influenced economic behavior and well-being. One particular set of "new-style" welfare programs seems to show especially promising results, with significantly increased work and earnings and reduced poverty.

Citation

Blank, Rebecca, M. 2002. "Evaluating Welfare Reform in the United States ." Journal of Economic Literature, 40 (4): 1105–1166. DOI: 10.1257/002205102762203576

JEL Classification

  • I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs