Safety Net Use

  • Karen Jusko
  • Mark Duggan
  • Hilary Hoynes

Leaders: Mark Duggan, Hilary Hoynes, Karen Jusko

The Safety Net RG is devoted to monitoring changes in government transfers and anti-poverty programs and assessing whether they are meeting the needs of the poor. The U.S. safety net is undergoing such changes as (a) an ongoing decline in TANF cash benefits, (b) rapid increases in spending on EITC, Medicaid, Disability Insurance, Unemployment Insurance, and SNAP, and (c) a dramatic shift toward spending that favors the “working poor” over the more destitute. The CPI affiliates working within this research group are monitoring these changes, examining their implications for poverty, assessing the effectiveness of key government and nongovernment programs in reducing poverty, and modeling the costs and benefits of possible changes in policy and programs. We’ve provided a sampling here of some of this ongoing research.

Poverty Relief Project: With Kate Weisshaar, Karen Jusko uses the poverty relief ratio to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs over time, across states, and across countries. Which state is the least effective in fighting poverty? Has the U.S. become more or less effective over time? These and other questions are answered in our latest State of the Union reports.

Long-run effects of SNAP: Have we underestimated the returns to SNAP by ignoring the long-run effects on children exposed to it in their early childhood? It’s now possible to find out.

California Welfare LaboratoryThe poverty rate in California, when measured with the Supplemental Poverty Measure, is the highest in the country. What can be done to bring that rate down? The mission of the California Welfare Laboratory is to make research on California’s welfare programs accessible to all and thus facilitate an informed discussion of what is working and what needs to be improved.

Differential EITC effects: It is often argued that early interventions have especially high payoffs.  Are the returns to the EITC indeed larger when it goes to parents with young children?

Disability and poverty: Does the federal government’s disability program reduce labor supply? Although it’s long been difficult to identify a causal effect, Mark Duggan has now found a way.

The effects of TANF: The TANF program is very decentralized and thus takes on dramatically different forms. How can we exploit that variability to find out what’s working?

Safety Net - CPI Research

Title Author Media
What Did Medicare Do? The Initial Impact of Medicare on Mortality and Out of Pocket Medical Spending Finkelstein, Amy and Robin McKnight

What Did Medicare Do? The Initial Impact of Medicare on Mortality and Out of Pocket Medical Spending

Author: Finkelstein, Amy and Robin McKnight
Publisher: Journal of Public Economics
Date:
Healthy Bodies and Thick Wallets: The Dual Relation between Health and Economic Status James P. Smith

Healthy Bodies and Thick Wallets: The Dual Relation between Health and Economic Status

Author: James P. Smith
Publisher: Journal of Economic Perspectives
Date:
Economic Analysis of Transfer Programs targeted on People with Disabilities Bound, John and Richard V. Burkhauser

Economic Analysis of Transfer Programs targeted on People with Disabilities

Author: Bound, John and Richard V. Burkhauser
Publisher: Amsterdam: Elsevier
Date:
Air Pollution, Health, and Socio-Economic Status: The Effect of Outdoor Air Quality on Childhood Asthma Neidell, Matthew

Air Pollution, Health, and Socio-Economic Status: The Effect of Outdoor Air Quality on Childhood Asthma

Author: Neidell, Matthew
Publisher: Journal of Health Economics
Date:
Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient Anne Case, Darren Lubotsky and Christina Paxson

Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient

Author: Anne Case, Darren Lubotsky and Christina Paxson
Publisher: American Economic Review
Date:

safety net - CPI Affiliates

Markus Gangl's picture Markus Gangl Professor of Sociology
Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main
Marta Tienda's picture Marta Tienda Professor, Maurice P. During '22 Professor in Demographic Studies; Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs; Director, Program in Latino Studies
Princeton University
Patrick Heuveline's picture Patrick Heuveline Professor, Sociology
University of California, Los Angeles
Peter J. Hammond's picture Peter J. Hammond Professor of Economics, University of Warwick; Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Stanford University
University of Warwick
Phillip Levine's picture Phillip Levine William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Economics; Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research; Research Affiliate, National Poverty Center
Wellesley College

Pages

Safety Net - Other Research

Title Author Media
America Unequal Sheldon Danziger and Peter Gottschalk

America Unequal

Author: Sheldon Danziger and Peter Gottschalk
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Date:
The Dual Economy Averitt, Robert T.

The Dual Economy

Author: Averitt, Robert T.
Publisher: New York: Norton
Date:
The Dual Labor Market: Theory and Implications Michael J. Piore

The Dual Labor Market: Theory and Implications

Author: Michael J. Piore
Publisher: Winthrop Publishers
Date:
Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism Michael Burawoy

Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism

Author: Michael Burawoy
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date:
What Do Unions Do Freeman, Richard B. and James L. Medoff

What Do Unions Do

Author: Freeman, Richard B. and James L. Medoff
Publisher: Basic Books
Date:

Safety Net - Multimedia

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