All Research
Op-Ed
Work Is the Best Policy for Poverty
The Badger State has a revered work ethic. After all, it is named for the…
Book
Rethinking Reentry
Summary Policymakers and researchers have been searching for a solution to persistently high rates of recidivism for…
Blog Post
SNAP Changes Promote Work
Today the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released final rules that strengthen work requirements for…
Journal Publication
Work, Family, and Community
Abstract The contributions to this volume make clear that the social safety net in the…
Blog Post
The Latest Report on Child Poverty Gets It Wrong on Welfare-to-work Requirements
Yesterday the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering,…
Op-Ed
Policies Favoring Welfare over Work Are Not Answers for Ending Poverty
The American policy debate is undergoing an important change. Some influential Democrats no longer view…
Blog Post
The Farm Bill: On SNAP, Congress Chooses Welfare over Work Once Again
So it looks as though the farm bill is going to pass through Congress without…
Op-Ed
Closing Argument on Farm Bill: Work Requirements in SNAP Will Reduce Poverty
With Congress considering adding work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food…
Blog Post
Work Puts Food on the Table
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Wednesday released its findings on food insecurity in…
Op-Ed
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.
Blog Post
New CEA Report Highlights Welfare’s Disincentives, and Suggests How to Fix Them
The president’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) has a new report out on the relationship between large…
Op-Ed
For SNAP to Work, It Must Emphasize More Work
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) has a significant flaw: It does…