Programming models approximate market prices and quantities when regulations constrain firm choices, because market outcomes result when welfare is appropriately defined and includes performance and environmental constraints. This study discusses market operation in quality-constrained sectors,...

We consider optimal trade policy for a large country with private information. We show that the optimal tariff leads to a signaling equilibrium with higher tariffs and lower welfare than under complete information, whereas the optimal import quota replicates the complete information equilibrium...

[...]This study is also a “leaver study”—describing the economicwell-being of families who left welfare and using the NationalSurvey of America’s Families (NSAF), conducted by the UrbanInstitute. It adds to the body of leaver studies by presenting anational picture, providing context for...

In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility andWork Opportunity Reconciliation Act, or PRWORA, whichsubstantially restructured public assistance programs.PRWORA gave states almost entire discretion to design andoperate cash assistance programs for families with children,reducing the...

[...]Our analysis is composed of three parts. First, we provide adiscussion of what the effects of welfare reform on thecomposition of the caseload—primarily measured by labormarket skill level—should be, in principle. Perhaps surprisingly,we argue that different welfare reform policies...

[...]Local welfare offices have relied on a number of differentstrategies to shift to a more work-oriented assistance system.Some have expanded the role of former income maintenance(eligibility) workers to include more tasks related to helpingwelfare recipients find employment, or they have...

[...]Although our analysis compares outcomes before and afterPRWORA, it should be made clear that because the formalstate plan for welfare reform did not take effect until 1999, weare not really evaluating welfare reform in New York City.Instead, our results primarily reflect the net effect of...

[...]One of the primary goals of TANF is to move welfarerecipients into work and economic self-sufficiency. Althoughstates were given much flexibility in how to achieve this goal, thefederal government imposed some guidelines in the form ofrequirements that welfare recipients be participating in...

[...]The New York City Social Indicators Survey (SIS)project represents one effort to track the consequences ofpolicy reform and devolution for inequality and well-beingin the largest and most diverse city in the United States.The project uses a telephone survey to collect data from arepeated...

[...]In this study, we use recent historical evidence toexplore one dimension of the broad relationship betweenmarket returns and mutual fund flows: the effect of shorttermmarket returns on mutual fund flows. Research onthis issue has already confirmed high correlations betweenmarket returns and...