January 3, 2025
Thanks, Joe Manchin
During transitions of power, it’s easy to fixate on a new administration’s nominees and legislative agenda…
June 17, 2024
Child Support Policy: Areas of Emerging Agreement and Ongoing Debate
The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) system is important in providing resources to children who live…
April 17, 2024
Fiscal Sanity Please, Senators
The Wyden-Smith tax bill, which combines an expanded child tax credit (CTC) with a variety…
January 26, 2024
Please Congress: Make Fiscal Sanity a Priority
Sometimes I don’t understand Republicans in the House of Representatives. When they are threatening government…
November 9, 2023
Child Support Policy: Areas of Emerging Agreement and Ongoing Debate
This paper will be delivered at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management 2023 Fall…
May 30, 2023
Two Sentences Will Strengthen SNAP’s Support for Work
The debt ceiling deal, agreed to by President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, will…
May 4, 2023
Work Is Essential to the American Dream
Work is one of the foundations of American life. Almost always, being employed and earning…
November 17, 2022
American Renewal: Launching a New Conservative Policy Book with Paul Ryan and Angela Rachidi
Event Summary On November 17, AEI’s Paul Ryan and Angela Rachidi launched their new volume,…
August 1, 2018
How Effective Are Work Requirements?
US safety-net programs already use work requirements to address potential work disincentives, and evidence suggests they increase employment and earnings among recipients capable of work. Critics often cite welfare-to-work experiments from the 1990s as evidence against work requirements, but the most relevant programs in those evaluations—“jobs-first” approaches that emphasized rapid employment—produced substantial gains in work and earnings. Although research on work requirements in programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid is more limited and subject to measurement challenges, broader evidence indicates that participation in safety-net programs can reduce employment incentives, implying that work requirements could offset those effects.