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Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume II

Few government programs in the United States are as controversial as those designed to help the poor. From tax credits to medical assistance, the size and structure of the American safety net is an issue of constant debate.

These two volumes update the earlier Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States with a discussion of the many changes in means-tested government programs and the results of new research over the past decade. While some programs that experienced falling outlays in the years prior to the previous volume have remained at low levels of expenditure, many others have grown, including Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and subsidized housing programs. For each program, the contributors describe its origins and goals, summarize its history and current rules, and discuss recipients’ characteristics and the types of benefits they receive. 

This is an invaluable reference for researchers and policy makers that features detailed analyses of many of the most important transfer programs in the United States.
 

Reviews

"Four papers, revised from work presented at a December 2014 conference held at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, examine the economics of means-tested transfer and human-capital programs for the disadvantaged in the United States."

Journal of Economic Literature

Table of Contents

Preface
Robert A. Moffitt

1. The Supplemental Security Income Program
Mark Duggan, Melissa S. Kearney, and Stephanie Rennane
 
2. Low-Income Housing Policy
Robert Collinson, Ingrid Gould Ellen, and Jens Ludwig
 
3. Employment and Training Programs
Burt S. Barnow and Jeffrey Smith
 
4. Early Childhood Education
Sneha Elango, Jorge Luis García, James J. Heckman, and Andrés Hojman
 
Author Index
Subject Index

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