What Mean Impacts Miss:Distributional Effects of Welfare Reform Experiments

Hilary Hoynes, Marianne Bitler and Jonah Gelbach
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Jonah Gelbach: Department of Economics, University of California Davis

No 36, Working Papers from University of California, Davis, Department of Economics

Abstract: Labor supply theory predicts systematic heterogeneity in the impact of recent welfare reformson earnings, transfers, and income. Yet most welfare reform research focuses on meanimpacts. We investigate the importance of heterogeneity using random-assignment data fromConnecticut's Jobs First waiver, which features key elements of post-1996 welfare programs.Estimated quantile treatment effects exhibit the substantial heterogeneity predicted by laborsupply theory. Thus mean impacts miss a great deal. Looking separately at samples of dropoutsand other women does not improve the performance of mean impacts. We conclude that welfarereform's effects are likely both more varied and more extensive than has been recognized.

Keywords: labor; welfare; reform (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47
Date: 2005-08-22
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: What Mean Impacts Miss: Distributional Effects of Welfare Reform Experiments (2006)
Working Paper: What Mean Impacts Miss: Distributional Effects of Welfare Reform Experiments (2005)
Working Paper: What Mean Impacts Miss Distributional Effects of Welfare Reform Experiments (2004)
Working Paper: What Mean Impacts Miss: Distributional Effects of Welfare Reform Experiments (2003)
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