The “Dutch Model” has attracted wide international attention for its presumed ability to reduce unemployment, introduce market incentives in the former public domain, and maintain essential provisions of the welfare state. This paper documents and evaluates policy changes, labor market...

One of the long-standing issues in the literature on transfer programs for the U.S. low-income population concerns the high cumulative marginal tax rate on earnings induced by participation in the multiplicity of programs offered by the government. Empirical work on the issue has reached an...

Immigrant status carries considerable challenges to survival and mobility in U.S. society. As an emerging dimension of social stratification, legal status further complicates the situation, influencing not only immigrants but also their children. Using data collected in Houston and San Diego,...

Recently there have been proposals to change the way we define families for the purpose of measuring poverty. This paper used the 1990 and 1992 SIPP to examine several of the practical and conceptual issues of changing the definition of “family.” This research found that the poverty rate for...

The purpose of this study was, first, to estimate of the impact of alcohol and drug use on the employment status of men and women, and second, to examine whether a history of past use, as opposed to current use, adversely affects the propensity to be employed. <p>Using data from the National...</p>

While the income disparity between widowed women and similarly aged married couples is well documented, we know far less about widows’ wealth holdings and how they compare to those of other households. Data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation are used to investigate the amount...

This paper brings together figures on recent trends in the labor market activity and wages of working-age men in the United States over the 1967-1992 period. The data, which come from Current Population Surveys, reveal several important developments. Year-long joblessness, the percentage of men...

This paper uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1975 to 1992 to measure changes in the distribution of years of receipt of AFDC. The process generating the total number of years of welfare receipt is then disaggregated into four components: (1) the length of time until first birth, (2)...

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to explore the educational achievement of youths who lived away from both biological parents for at least four months during childhood. The study focuses on those who spent some time in substitute care (in foster family care, living...

The elderly are one of the population subgroups at greatest risk for hunger and food insecurity. To date, no accurate measures of this problem have been developed. What is needed are a thorough understanding of the phenomenon, and an assessment of how the elderly perceive and answer items...