Through a practical introduction to the policies of the American welfare state--a wide-ranging subject much discussed but seldom described--this slim volume details the four main areas of social welfare policy: housing assistance, nutrition assistance, income assistance, and medical assistance....

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...