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Prior research considers the extent to which public assistance recipients' charitable activity differs from the habits of the general population. Although receiving public assistance is negatively associated with donating money, the relationship to volunteering is unclear. In response to challenges overcoming selection bias, we conducted a multivariate cluster-based subgroup analysis to reduce bias in our claims about the ways in which public assistance receipt affects charitable activity. This innovative approach to dealing with the problem of selection bias has implications and applications across the social sciences. KEY WORDS: public assistance, welfare, charity, selection bias, cluster analysis, Much scholarship is dedicated to understanding the factors that influence one to donate time or money to charitable causes; but only a small portion of that scholarship considers those within [...]

Although a vast amount of literature on the characteristics of public assistance recipients exists, little is known about the characteristics of the clientele of nonprofits that provide material assistance. This [...]

This paper studies the determinants of women's welfare outcome in microcredit programs. These determinants are in the form of different types of characteristics of women: their own characteristics (age, schooling etc) or the characteristics of the household or village they live in. Observed effects are often biased due to correlation between some explanatory variables and unobserved ability. As finding suitable instruments of the endogenous variables are often difficult, this study finds information about unobserved ability from the marriage market. It is found that incorporating estimates of women's unobserved characteristics alleviates the problem of endogeneity. Therefore, we gain a better and reliable understanding of women's performance in the microcredit programs by combining information from both marriage market and microcredit programs. JEL Classifications: D13, G21, J12, 016, Q12 Keywords: Microcredit, Determinants, Marriage Market, Endogeneity, INTRODUCTION Microcredit programs have attracted much attention from researchers since their inception. These are small-scale credit programs that provide production credit and other services to rural poor. In recent years, [...]

Byline: Sandra K. Danziger, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109; email: sandrakd@umich.edu Keywords: public assistance, single-mother families, employment Abstract This article highlights the scope of cash welfare as a poverty program and the policy context that led to the legislative distinctions between pre- and post-1996. Trends in welfare, employment, and poverty for single-mother families are presented, as are hypotheses that guide studies of the effects of welfare reform. Social science and policy research on how the reforms have affected economic outcomes, how reform has been implemented, and how it affects children are highlighted. I next summarize research on child care subsidies, an example of an effective family support that was part of welfare reform. I also highlight lessons from studies of recipient perspectives and those focused on how leavers get by without welfare. I identify gaps in understanding the reduced role of cash welfare for low-income families and offer continuing policy and research questions for addressing poverty in the current economic crisis and recovery.

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of job access on employment outcomes for welfare recipients in Cleveland, Ohio. A longitudinal dataset combining administrative and survey data with multiple measures of access to jobs is used. Findings indicate that labor market outcomes are related to the residential locations of welfare leavers prior to employment.

A study evidencing the presence of a structure of social ties and interpersonal relationships built through economic behavior in small groups of people like work teams, neighborhoods, social networks, boards of directors, etc. is presented. The study examines the development of such economic behavior based social ties structure in public good environment.

The study presents a hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) example investigating intergenerational dependence on welfare and its relation to child academic achievement. Results show that HLM is a robust and flexible tool that can effectively test various types of research hypothesis, particularly those concerning multilevel influences and macro-to-micro relations.

Does interstate competition reduce welfare generosity? Most analyses of this question focus on Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefit levels. The welfare-reducing logic of interstate competition should apply to all redistributive programs, however. We test for competitive effects more generally, examining several measures of welfare generosity for AFDC, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security Income-State (SSI-S) policy. We find evidence of interstate competition across multiple programs and measures over which states have authority. We also find variation in the effects that is consistent with variation in political debates across the programs.

Several Oregon counties received a noticeable influx of elderly migrants from other states during the 1980s. Oregon policy regarding taxes, land use, and long-term care is examined for possible influence on migration. Models of elderly migration are examined for insight into how public policy influences migration, and previous research regarding the effects of elderly migration on public policy is reviewed. Data regarding disability and financial vulnerability among elderly by migration status are analyzed for possible influence upon public policy. Change in the population aged 65 and older mirrored state and national patterns for 1980 to 1990 and 1990 to 1999. Interstate elderly arriving in attractive counties reported a low prevalence of disability and financial vulnerability, indicating a low risk of demanding public assistance. Interstate elderly arriving in population centers reported a relatively high prevalence of disability but a low prevalence of financial vulnerability. This may suggest that Oregon's long-term care policy influenced elderly migration. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: KEYWORDS. Aged, migration, disability, poverty, public revenues, public assistance, capacity, competency

This study analyzed interdependent behaviors among states in setting welfare benefits, behaviors often referred to as strategic interactions. Strategic interactions among states are believed to have led some state governments [...]

Researchers infrequently have focused on assessing the degree to which the changes in welfare policy legislated during the 1990s have affected immigrants' receipt of welfare. Using data from the March Current Population Survey, we analyze the contribution of local labor market conditions to the explanation of relative declines in immigrants receipt of welfare from 1994 to 2000. The results or a series of models that included labor market-area and state fixed effects indicate that employment and unemployment rates across metropolitan statistical areas and states account for at least one-third of the observed relative decrease among immigrants. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.

The federally-imposed lifetime limit on cash assistance receipt compels program administrators to examine returns to welfare after an exit. We explore recidivism among a random sample of 2,665 Maryland families who left welfare between October 1996 and December 1997. Using administrative data, we compare the demographic characteristics, welfare histories, and work histories of recidivists and non-recidivists. Results indicate that most families do not return to welfare within a year. However, almost one-third do return, often within the first 30 days. This rarely investigated 'administrative churning' phenomenon is important because of the federal time limit, the valuable agency resources which are consumed in handling churning cases and the possible negative consequences of churning on family well-being. KEYWORDS. Welfare, recidivism, human services, policy

The interests in social indicators and social reporting started in the 1960s with the new awareness of poverty in the midst of affluence. In this paper I first discuss the poverty concept and its implication for social policy strategy. The poverty concept should be but one in a system of concepts that throws light on the whole distribution of income and wealth and how income from labor as well as income from capital is generated. The central concepts in the system are income and economic standard, which I explain in different perspectives on command over resources. The command-over-resources concept is used to get from a narrow concept of material welfare that can be measured in money to a wider concept of welfare that includes the universal common social concerns. I confess to being intrigued by the fact that a list of social concerns can be agreed upon that seems to be relevant across cultures, political systems and times. I suggest that this surmised universality springs from the great 'life projects' that all humans face over the life cycle. I then discuss the role of social indicators and social reporting as continuous information on these common concerns in the context of an epistemology of the democratic process. Social reporting would serve the democratic process best if it answers 'how it is' and leaves the answers on 'how it ought to be' and 'what should be done' to come about through discussion among citizens. KEY WORDS: democratic process, income distribution, poverty, quality of life, welfare

The approximate effects of measurement error on a variety of measures of inequality and poverty are derived. They are shown to depend on the measurement error variance and functionals of the error-contaminated income distribution, but not on the form of the measurement error distribution, and to be accurate within a rich class of error-free income distributions and measurement error distributions. The functionals of the error-contaminated income distribution that approximate the measurement error induced distortions can be estimated. So it is possible to investigate the sensitivity of welfare measures to alternative amounts of measurement error and, when an estimate of the measurement error variance is available, to calculate corrected welfare measures. The methods are illustrated in an application using Indonesian household expenditure data.

This research uses 1997 National Survey of America's Families data to show that fewer welfare caseloads may result in a sicker population for the Medicaid program, leading to higher enrollee costs and capitation rates.

Public sector welfare caseworkers confront shifts in U.S. welfare policy internally, facing changes in their own workplaces, and externally, in relation to their clients. This paper looks at an activist AFSCME caseworker local in Chicago to see how it responded to these internal and external challenges. It compares the strategies of two campaigns, in terms of their timelines, goals, educational needs, and strategic concerns, including relationships with other parts of the union. The paper then draws lessons about alliances with other organizations, the need for a program of maximum mobilization, and development of strong and educated secondary leadership.

This article discusses the contribution American social scientists have made to the study of poverty over the past 25 years as viewed from a comparative perspective. It has two parts. The first concentrates on the measurement of poverty and the fact that the U.S. poverty line remained fundamentally unchanged in that period despite increasingly important deficiencies in the way it was calculated. The second analyzes the broadened scope of U.S. research on the causes of poverty and its growing impact on poverty policy far beyond the United States.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of stigmatization and other pressures associated with single-motherhood on a variety of well-being variables. A sample of 356 Hong Kong Chinese single mothers, whose marriage ended due to divorce, husband's death, separation or desertion, responded to the self-administered questionnaire. The results show that stigmatization is a very salient factor affecting nine out of the eleven domains of psychological well-being. The impact on well-being of other social pressures, i.e., personal burdens and custodial responsibilities is rather limited. Deterioration in the employment situation after becoming a single parent is found to be the strongest predictor of stigmatization, whereas being on welfare and a lack of employment are positively and significantly correlated with stigmatization. KEYWORDS. Stigmatization, single mothers, well-being, Hong Kong

Research into the effects mergers of health maintenance organizations has on welfare is given. The research shows that the effects of these mergers on welfare are the highest on health plans ability to realize efficiencies.

Bruce D. Meyer (*) Between 1984 and 1996, changes in tax and transfer programs sharply increased the incentives for single mothers to work. Two aspects of these policy changes are [...]

This article examines the fundamental elements that define the field of human services. Human services can be classified as social services created to contribute to societal well-being that incorporate key elements such as interactions between recipients and providers, therapeutic methods, mediating organizations, fundamental human needs, and the social environment.

The author discusses the relationship between income inequality and health. Topics include neo-liberalism, global capitalism, market dominion, class structure and welfare policy.

A local measure of classical horizontal inequity (HI) in an income tax or tax-benefit system is proposed and aggregated into a global index. This index expresses the revenue gain per capita that would come from eliminating HI welfare-neutrally, and also reveals the loss of vertical performance, in terms of the Blackorby and Donaldson (1984) progressivity index, caused by the presence of HI. Non-parametric estimation procedures that can be used to tackle the 'identification problem' are delineated. An application to the Canadian tax-benefit system between 1981 and 1994 reveals the changing profile of local HI, its sources, and its aggregate significance.

Research reveals increased population in New York City family shelters from 1986-1993 occurred for several reasons, such as reduced placements into subsidized housing, an increased number of families in Tier II shelters, and a fall in welfare benefits. Topics include a history of the New York City family shelter system, and implications of the study.

Changes in the delivery of rural hospital services were evaluated using a discrete-choice, travel-cost demand model. Variables such as age, facility scope, income, severity of illness and travel-costs were highlighted by the results of a nested logit model to show the role they play in rural residents' decisions regarding hospital selection. Significant economic value was shown by welfare estimates to be embedded in the provision of rural hospital services. The retention of a very limited hospital facility in rural areas appears to be the feasible option to total closure.

Research on welfare levels from 1940-1995 have shown declines in assistance beginning in 1975, especially for higher-paying states. This lessened commitment to maintaining families above the poverty line places those receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families in significant difficulty.

Some views on donation mechanisms that were presented by P.A. Champ, R.C. Bishop, T.C. Brown and D.W. McCollum in their article entitled 'Using donation mechanisms to value non-use benefits from public goods' are criticized. Champ and his co-authors' conclusion on actual donations as a theoretical lower bound on Hicksian values is inaccurate because it was found that donations can either be over, equal or below Hicksian values. This is dependent on the strength of warm glow and method of provision.

Provision of low-wage menial employment through public works schemes promises to provide low cost targeting of the poor, especially in rural areas where instruments for income transfer are scarce. Findings from survey-based studies in rural Botswana and Kenya show that the working poor are more willing to participate in public works schemes, especially those with few assets and limited access to private income transfers. Access to short-term employment through these schemes appears to improve the net income of the very poor and decrease poverty among the rural poor. The significant number of nonpoor in the schemes, indicates however a need for improving poverty targeting through setting wage rates that closely reflect the labor supply characteristics of the poor in rural labor markets. In addition, these schemes have to be complemented with other income-transfer interventions to ensure that the poor who fail to meet work requirements are not excluded from public assistance.

An examination of a 1994 household survey of foreign-born Mexicans in Los Angeles County, California and the Current Population Surveys of March 1994 and 1995 revealed several surprising facts about welfare use by illegal immigrants. It was found that unauthorized Mexican immigrants in that area use welfare at a similar or lesser rate than other ethno-racial groups. In addition, Mexican welfare recipients do not use as much in terms of value as individuals from other groups who also access welfare. These findings negate prevailing public beliefs about welfare use by illegal immigrants.

There is extensive public provision of private goods in all developed countries. The public provision scheme is often designed so that individuals can opt out, but not top up (supplement) the publicly provided quantity/quality. Using an optimal income tax/public provision model we derive the respective conditions under which a public provision scheme should allow or forbid supplementing. Disregarding administrative costs, a system where individuals are not allowed to top up is optimal if the demand for the publicly provided good increases in the amount of leisure available, while a scheme allowing individuals to top up is warranted if the demand decreases with the amount of leisure.

Bourdieu conceptualises most aspects of social life in terms of fields, which constitute sites of struggle over a central stake. The resources which are used in these struggles, and whose appropriation is at stake, are defined as types of capital: economic, cultural, social and symbolic. Each field involves a set of players, of agents who are engaged in practices and strategies on the basis of an habitus. It is contended in this article that such an approach can be usefully mobilised to develop a sociological analysis of welfare. The model has to be slightly altered to make it more adequate for the study of the welfare field. First, what Bourdieu calls political capital is given a more prominent place. Secondly, the focus is more definitely set on the rates at which types of capital are converted in the welfare field. It is argued that such a model satisfies the central requirements of a sociology of welfare, in that it places welfare activities within the wider social context while grasping their internal dynamic. It provides an effective framework for addressing the main questions which are raised by a sociology of welfare.

The dynamics of welfare participation are analysed using a unique longitudinal data set derived from provincial administrative records over the period 1980-92. The principal findings are that the majority of welfare spells are experienced by single men and women without children, and that while most welfare spells are short, there is a high incidence of recidivism. Although continuous, long-term use and dependence on welfare is not characteristic of most recipients' experiences, the program does not provide an effective route to financial independence, since most users periodically return to the program.

Sweden has experienced a sequence of tax and benefit reforms during the last decade. In this paper we evaluate these reforms from labour supply, welfare and inequality points of view. We depart from a household labour supply model. Simulation of the model reveals that tax and benefit reforms have led to a considerable reduction of the excess burden. Regarding social welfare and inequality, we show that the results depend to a large extent on the income inequality measure and the measure of social welfare, as well as the income concept (household disposable income or money metric utility).

According to A.D. Chandler, Jr, the rise of organisational capabilities in German enterprises was decisive for the international economic success of the German Reich before 1914. This article deals with the changes in the organisational structures of enterprises through concentration and diversification and their consequences for welfare policy in German industry. The central question is to what extent the changing organisational structures affected the quality and quantity of welfare provided by companies. The interactions between welfare policy and organisation can be illustrated by the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (VSt), the world's second largest iron and steel combine, next to US Steel, in the first half of the twentieth century. After a survey of the traditions of business welfare in Germany since the early nineteenth century, important aspects of industrial welfare policy, such as health insurance, company stores and housing, are analysed in the context of the VSt's organisational development between 1926 and 1933., According to A.D. Chandler, Jr, the model of 'cooperative managerial capitalism' has been typical for the structure of business in Germany since the nineteenth century and was decisive for the […]

A model of participants' take-up of welfare benefits is developed using welfare fraud and welfare stigma as reference points. Results of the model showed stigma as the significant factor that determines participation in a welfare program, underscoring the effects of informal controls, even under conditions of differing stigma perception and honesty characteristics of participants. The result implies that informal controls can be used in the formulation of effective screening strategies to ensure that the qualified needy enters the welfare program.

This research examines the quantitative impacts of welfare program characteristics and individual characteristics on both the labor force and welfare participation decisions of low-income females with children. The participation decisions are estimated jointly as a bivariate probit model using data derived from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey for the years 1979 to 1990, inclusive. These data allow the estimation of the precise behavioral impacts of welfare. The main empirical findings are that effective welfare guarantee levels and the effective welfare tax rate on unearned income both significantly affect the probability of labor force and welfare program participation, but that such impacts are very small in magnitude. Implications for policy are discussed.

This article is concerned in part to inform the quest for an understanding of the perceptions which Muslim minorities have of Western welfare state provision, but its wider purpose is to explore the essence and the potential of the Islamic welfare state. Heuristic models constructed by social policy academics have provided insights into the influences of religion upon different kinds of welfare state, but no model exists by which specifically to understand Islamic welfare traditions. The article explains the Islamic tradition of Zakat; its significance as one of the central pillars of Muslim faith, and the principles through which it addresses the relief of poverty and the redistribution of wealth. Islamic conceptions of state and community are then explored and the ways in which Muslim faith and culture are adapting at both the global and community level. The article concludes with some speculative remarks about the scope for rapprochement between Western debates about the moral basis for welfare and Muslim perspectives on social justice.

Tanner and Moore (1995) calculate welfare equivalent wags for the six most common social programs for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. They assert that individuals who choose public assistance over work are responding rationally to incentives of the welfare system, but they offer no evidence. I present statistically significant support for Tanner and Moore's assertion. Among potential welfare recipients, a one dollar increase in the welfare equivalent wage is found to increase the welfare take-up rate by approximately 2.7 percentage points and decrease the labor force participation rate by approximately 2.5 percentage points. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

A model with health expenditure-based insurance payouts was created to assess the effects of providing subsidies for out-of-pocket health expenses. Findings based on the model reveal that subsidizing coinsurance payments lead to reduced health expenditures and increased welfare if health insurance premiums are payable with pretax dollars. Equal subsidies are also shown to be close to ideal in the presence of deadweight loss. In its absence, the ideal subsidy to coinsurance is greater than that provided to premiums, however, equal subsidies to both will still remain welfare improving.

After years of collective denial, most politicians (and welfare policy makers) have finally acknowledged the link between unwed parenthood and long-term welfare dependency, as well as a host of other [...]

The effects of tariff rebalancing on welfare is examined in the UK natural gas market. An econometric model of the household consumption is proposed. Tariff rebalancing between fixed and variable charges is found to highly impact distribution. Substitute methods are suggested to handle these effects: the use of the current welfare system as a mitigating factor, and the use of special tariffs for low-income consumers.

The impact of higher welfare support levels on school participation rates are examined to determine the validity of standard economic theory on education. A random sample of 18- to 25-yr. old single mothers is used for the study. Results show that increases in the welfare system do not significantly affect educational levels. This result contradicts most of the findings provided for in empirical literature.

Bulgaria provided its citizens with a comprehensive social safety net which included retirement and disability pensions, and free health and education services. It also had full employment with highly compressed wages. However, with its transition to a market economy, output declined, wages dropped, and unemployment rose. Meanwhile, self-employment income increased as sharply as unemployment and in-kind income has become a successful coping mechanism, but there was hardly any change in social transfers. Moreover, the social safety net benefits mostly the wrong target, the middle income group. Reforms in social services are clearly needed., Bulgaria is a lower-middle income country with a population of about 8.5 million. In late 1989 it began introducing radical political and economic changes aimed at transforming the country into [...]

Monthly administrative records gathered for the period between Nov. 1983 and Sept. 1991 on income assistance in British Columbia were analyzed to determine the reasons for availment, withdrawal and return by individuals of such a service. Findings show that, contrary to popular opinion, single males and not women and children comprise the biggest group of availers. As for returnees, majority are residents of the province.