January 3, 2025
Thanks, Joe Manchin
During transitions of power, it’s easy to fixate on a new administration’s nominees and legislative agenda…
October 29, 2021
The Bad Science Behind the Child Tax Credit Expansion
Here is a story that helps explain why people have lost trust in public-policy experts:…
September 7, 2018
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…
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.
June 4, 2018
For SNAP to Work, It Must Emphasize More Work
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) has a significant flaw: It does…
February 2, 2017
Will Trump Choose Work over Welfare?
In his inaugural address, President Trump promised to “get our people off of welfare and back to…
April 21, 2014
10 Welfare Reform Lessons
New York City’s welfare system is managed out of a boxy 25-story office building on…