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EXPECTATIONS AND WELFARE WORK: WIN IN NEW YORK CITY
Author(s) -
Mead Lawrence M.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
review of policy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1541-1338
pISSN - 1541-132X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1541-1338.1983.tb00794.x
Subject(s) - welfare , work (physics) , incentive , function (biology) , politics , welfare reform , economics , political science , market economy , engineering , law , biology , mechanical engineering , evolutionary biology
Work requirements for welfare recipients have done l i t t l e to reduce the welfare rolls. The usual explanation that limited skills and openings prevent recipients working is unpersuasive, since low‐skilled work seems to be quite widely available. This study of the Work Incentive (WIN) program, the main welfare work program, in New York City found that whether recipients work depends mainly on whether WIN seriously expects them to. Thus, the welfare work problem is more political than economic. It lies in our reluctance to obligate recipients to function socially as we would other people.