Full Citation
Title: The Spirit of ’96: States & the Implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2017
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Abstract: Under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF; "welfare"), the program created by the 1996 welfare reform law, economic relief for low-income families is no longer an entitlement. Instead, it is time-limited and tied to work requirements. State governments also have both formal and informal incentives to keep traditional cash assistance caseloads low. Welfare reform, by linking welfare participation to the low-wage labor market, has been seen by some commentators as emblematic of a larger shift in public policy toward market-based solutions to social problems and the use of social policy to service markets ("neoliberalism"). In this paper, I test the logic underlying this market-based paradigm—that restricted access to cash benefits improves the well-being of low-income households by incentivizing labor market participation. Using quantitative models of the relationship between household food insecurity and state cash assistance coverage from 2001 to 2013, I find that the decline in the accessibility of traditional welfare is associated with an increased risk of material hardship in low-income households with children, particularly those headed by a single female. I generally fail to find evidence that changes in welfare coverage are associated with changes in the probability of a household having an employed adult present, however. In concert, these findings call into question the logic of welfare reform specifically and the blanket implementation of market-based solutions to social problems generally.
Url: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/138531/vafusaro_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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Authors: Fusaro, Vincent, A
Institution: University of Michigan
Department: Social Work & Political Science
Advisor: Vincent L. Hutchings
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
Publisher Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Pages: 225
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Family and Marriage, Poverty and Welfare
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