More, Less, or More of the Same? Trends in State Social Welfare Policy in the 1990s

Marcia K. Meyers, Janet C. Gornick and Laura R. Peck

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2002, vol. 32, issue 4, 91-108

Abstract: Major reforms to cash assistance and other welfare programs in the 1990s raise questions about whether states gained new flexibility in setting social policies, and, if so, how they exercised this flexibility. We extend prior research on state social policy by examining trends during the middle to late 1990s in five areas of cash or near-cash policy affecting the economic security of low-income families. We find evidence of substantial change in the generosity and the availability of these benefits between 1994 and 1999, along with evidence of greater divergence or cross-state variation in policy choices. By considering several forms of assistance simultaneously, we also find evidence that states constricted traditional welfare-based assistance while expanding some forms of non-welfare support for the working poor. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/ (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:publus:v:32:y:2002:i:4:p:91-108

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Publius: The Journal of Federalism is currently edited by Paul Nolette and Philip Rocco

More articles in Publius: The Journal of Federalism from CSF Associates Inc. Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().