Using data from the National Election Study (NES) surveys in the seven election years between 1984 and 1996, this paper examines stability and change in both the levels of support and the explanations for support of two social welfare programs -- Social Security and Food Stamps. An explanatory...

We qualify the contribution of various driving forces to state-level movements in unemployment rates and employment growth from 1956 to 1992. Our story of regional fluctuations in the U.S. economy has a large cast of players -- including government contract awards and the basing of military...

The 1996 welfare reform legislation stipulates a 60-month time limit on total receipt as well as work requirements after 24 months of receipt. Using Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data on the monthly patterns of AFDC receipt during the 1980s and early 1990s, we estimate the number and...

This paper presents an overview of recent research and theory concerning adolescent sexual activity, pregnancy, and parenthood. Although the rate of teenage childbearing has decreased substantially since mid-century, increasing proportions of teenage mothers who are unmarried and receiving...

In recent decades in the United States, even as inequalities of income and wealth have greatly increased, redistributive programs have tended to be curtailed. In some cases, government policies have begun to exacerbate, rather than moderate, inequality. Since this has occurred not only under the...

A popular scheme for providing affordable housing involves the use of rental vouchers given directly to families who choose their own market-rate housing. In this paper we present a methodology for calculating localized economic benefits and costs to various groups affected by a hypothetical...

We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Mother-Child Files to estimate the effect of age at enrollment in first grade on eight to eleven year old children's cognitive test scores and behavior problems. We find that children who enroll in first grade at a young age score higher...

This paper presents findings from a net impact evaluation of the Ohio JOBS Student Retention Program. The JOBS program, a component of the federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children (ADC) program, was required, in all states, for ADC recipients who met certain criteria. The Ohio JSRP was an...

This paper presents an optimization model for evaluation of alternative spatial configurations of rent-subsidized housing in a large metropolitan area as well as associated monetary and nonmonetary impacts. Groups affected by these configurations include residents of subsidized housing, owners...

This paper attempts to determine whether wage records reported quarterly by employers to state Unemployment Insurance (UI) agencies provide a valid alternative to more costly retrospective sample surveys of individuals as the basis for measuring the labor market impacts of employment and...