In this brief, we contrast making cash and related forms of public assistance more generous with strategies that encourage work and marriage. The data suggest that the latter are more effective ways of reducing poverty and demonstrate the wisdom of the increasing attention that has been given to encouraging work and marriage in recent policy […]
The goal of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was to end needy parents’ dependence on governmental benefits, in part by promoting marriage. The prereform welfare system was widely believed to discourage marriage because it provided benefits primarily to single mothers. However, welfare reform may have actually decreased the incentives to be […]
Welfare reform has been a huge success, if measured by reductions in caseloads. Since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) was passed in 1996, welfare caseloads have plummeted, and are lower today than at anytime since 1969. Such diverse states as Wisconsin, Idaho, and Mississippi have experienced reductions of 80 percent or […]
The Welfare Peer TA Network sponsored a multi-State TA event on July 15-16, 2003, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This event was co-coordinated with Public Strategies, the public relations firm that manages the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative. The Administration for Children and Families’ Region VI, VII and IX Offices provided additional support, ensuring this event met State […]
This video session was planned with two goals in mind. The first — to examine the “”Consequences of Marriage Report”” that succinctly stated “”Does marriage bring the same benefits to all groups, and in particular of course to African-Americans?”” and the evidence being very strong, especially with Caucasian families, that marriage conveys very substantial advantages […]
This paper uses new data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine whether welfare and child support policies affect family formation among new unwed parents in the late 1990s.
We document key facts about marriage and divorce, comparing trends through the past 150 years and outcomes across demographic groups and countries. While divorce rates have risen overthe past 150 years, they have been falling for the past quarter century. Marriage rates have also been falling, but more strikingly, the importance of marriage at different […]
This paper examines the extent to which the relationship between parents in cohabiting as opposed to married households affects the material hardship experienced by members of those households. My approach is to consider the adequacy of certain household public goods, such as housing, heat, and electricity. Drawing from non-cooperative bargaining models of intra-household resource allocation, […]
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA, S. 1932) includes a scaled-back version of welfare reauthorization. Enactment of the DRA would end the four-year saga of welfare reauthorization legislation. The DRA would extend funding at current levels for basic state grants under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) blockgrant through Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, […]
This Issue Brief offers policy options for states interested in expanding or initiating efforts to support healthy marriages. It reviews a range of options states have used to strengthen existing marriages, encourage and support new marriages, and educate the public about the benefits of marriage. The brief does not discuss related efforts that states have […]