The interaction of welfare and child support regulations has created a situation in which child support policy's incentives that discourage unwed fatherhood tend to be stronger than its incentives that encourage unwed motherhood. This suggests that more stringent child support enforcement...

Why do we distribute income to the poor through government programs? Spokespersons for the median voter/interdependent preferences and interest group approaches to public policy determination present simple competing models. Their listener observes that the two models, based on quite different...

Can state income transfers contribute to economic development? This essay concludes: maybe, and cautions against a full-speed-ahead approach to converting income transfers into economic development tools. Recent policy initiatives involving unemployment insurance and welfare programs generally...