Toward Welfare That Works

Abstract

Welfare reform is high on the national agenda. This paper clarifies facts about the welfare system, provides behavioral analyses of welfare and working, and reviews current policy initiatives with potential for producing lasting solutions. The most frequent approach to the issue has been to cut benefits, and exhort those on welfare to obtain employment which may not be available, or for which they may not be prepared. However, the demand to look more closely before cutting already desperately limited resources for families and children is not simply the cry of the old-time liberal; it is also the conclusion of the careful empiricist. Analysis of the data suggest (1) that the most effective approaches will be those that are base primarily on offering adequate supports and incentives, and (2) indiscriminate cuts and sanction-based programs are often based in myth, and are likely to be ineffective and produce undesirable side effects.