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Welfare Caseload Change: An Alternative Approach
Author(s) -
Mead Lawrence M.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
policy studies journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1541-0072
pISSN - 0190-292X
DOI - 10.1111/1541-0072.00010
Subject(s) - unemployment , welfare , sanctions , politics , welfare reform , aid to families with dependent children , work (physics) , economics , public economics , welfare state , government (linguistics) , public policy , state (computer science) , political science , demographic economics , economic growth , market economy , law , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , engineering , algorithm , computer science
In the last decade, caseloads in AFDC/TANF have shifted dramatically up, then down. Of existing studies based on time series or state panel data, some tend to underplay the role of welfare reform. All say little about what policies drove the decline or about the role of governmental quality. An approach using cross‐sectional models explains interstate differences in caseload change rather than the national trend but allows more discussion about the role of policy and government. Results suggest that grant levels, work and child support requirements, and sanctions are important explainers of change, along with some demographic terms and unemployment. These policies in turn are tied to states’ political opinion, political culture, and institutional capacity. Moralistic states seem the most capable of transforming welfare in the manner the public wants.