Divided government is often thought of as causing legislative deadlock. I investigate the link between divided government and economic reforms using a novel data set on welfare reforms in US states between 1978 and 2010. Panel data regressions show that under divided government a US state is...

The politics of pilot programs -- Hope and an experimental design -- The history of AFDC -- Florida's family transition program -- Street-level policymaking -- Revolution in the states -- The rhetoric and institutional politics of policy experiments -- Afterword : "superwaivers