For decades the rhetoric of federalism has been an important part of the debate over welfare reform. The alignments were predictable. Anti-big government conservatives argued for state and local control over welfare programs arrayed against New Deal liberals seeking federal funding and...

In this paper we use a dynamic structural life-cycle model to analyze the employment, fiscal and welfare effects induced by unemployment insurance. The model features a detailed specification of the tax and transfer system, including unemployment insurance benefits which depend on an...

The potential link between child-related cash transfers and increased fertility is often raised an issue of concern when debating their use. Old-age pension is a form of cash transfer where theory would suggest the opposite impact, i.e. pensions equal decreasing fertility. A handful of...

Drawing on a unique experimental design, this paper examines the ways in which racialized images influence attitudes toward redistributive policy. While work in the US points to a strong racialization of welfare attitudes, little research explores the ways in which race may structure attitudes...

The present report summarises the outcome of a research project carried out jointly by researchers of the Polish Center for Social and Economic Research Foundation (CASE) and the German Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and funded by the Volkswagen foundation. The objective of this...

Unemployment insurance policies are multidimensional objects. They are typically defined by waiting periods, eligibility duration, benefit levels and asset tests when eligible, which make intertemporal or international comparisons difficult. To make things worse, labor market conditions, such as...

Higher world food prices have led many developing countries to adopt policies to mitigate the impact on low-income households. This article sets out a partial equilibrium framework to evaluate the efficiency, distributional, and revenue implications of alternative policy responses. The model is...

This paper empirically examines the role of social networks in welfare participation. Social theorists from across the political spectrum have argued that network effects have given rise to a culture of poverty. Empirical work, however, has found it difficult to distinguish the effect of...

In 1671, the Maryland legislature empowered county justices to levy a tax for support of the poor. Because the number of poor remained small during this period, providing them with annual pensions proved to be an efficient and economical means of meeting the needs of elderly and infirm residents...

This paper surveys evidence from recent randomized evaluations in developing countries on the impact of price on access to health and education. The debate on user fees has been contentious, but until recently much of the evidence was anecdotal. Randomized evaluations across a variety of...