H24; H71 </AbstractSection> Copyright Chernick et al.; licensee Springer. 2014

Our purpose in this paper is to speculate on the cyclicality of state fiscal responses under welfare reform. In particular, how will they respond during the next recession? We draw lessons from several literatures and present some new evidence. An important literature estimates the spending...

Fiscal redistribution varies substantially across U.S. states, both on the tax and spending side. A compensating differential framework is used to show that greater redistribution will tend to increase the gross wage of skilled workers but that any increase could be offset by stronger...

The housing crisis and the Great Recession have placed tremendous fiscal pressure on the United States’ central cities. Cuts in state government fiscal assistance to local governments, combined with shrinking property tax bases, make it hard for local governments to maintain current levels of...

This paper uses microsimulation modeling to estimate the annual burden of federal, state, and local taxes on the poor in two states. We find that in 1988 the average burden of taxation on poor families and individuals was 15.3 percent in Massachusetts and 18 percent in New York. As most of the...

In 1996 the United States revamped its welfare system by eliminating the entitlement to cash benefits under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and replacing it by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Federal financing was converted from open-ended matching grants to fixed...

This paper addresses the fiscal behavior of states in response to the Federal Food Stamp program (FSP). The effectiveness of the Food Stamp Program in increasing the economic well-being of recipients is dependent, in part, on the fiscal behavior of states. Because most Food Stamp recipients are...

To evaluate the initial effects of welfare reform in New York City, we use the Current Population Survey to compare benefit receipt, earnings, and income among vulnerable households in 1994-95 and 1997-99. Overall, there were drops in public assistance and Food Stamps receipt, but the proportion...