Extract from The Deserving Poor, the Family, and the U.S. Welfare System

Transcription

1 Extract from, the Family, and the U.S. Welfare System by Robert A. Moffitt. Published in Demography (215), Volume 52, Issue 3, pp James J. AEA Continuing Education Program ASSA Course: Microeconomics of Life Course Inequality San Francisco, CA, January 5-7, 216

2 , the Family, and the U.S. Welfare System 733 Figure 1: Important dates in the history of the U.S. transfer system Table 1 Important dates in the history of the U.S. transfer system Date Event Beginnings 1935 Creation of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Old-Age Survivors Social Security program, and Unemployment Insurance (UI) 1956 Creation of the Social Security Disability Insurance (SDDI) program Great Expansion 1964 Formation of Food Stamp program 1965 Creation of Medicare and Medicaid programs 1965 Creation of Head Start program 1966 School Breakfast and National School Lunch programs formalized 1972 Congress creates the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program 1975 Creation of the Women s, Infants, and Children (WIC) program 1975 Congress legislates the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Contractionary Developments President Nixon s Family Assistance Plan (FAP) fails in Congress Late 197s President Carter s expansionary welfare reform plans fail 198 Ronald Reagan elected president after campaign proposing retrenchment 1984 Charles Murray publishes Losing Ground 1988 President George H. W. Bush s expansionary work-based welfare reform plan passes Congress but later is judged a failure 1996 President Clinton oversees the most contractionary welfare reform in modern U.S. history

3 Figure The Deserving 2: RealPoor, aggregate the Family, and transfer the U.S. Welfare program System spending per capita, , Expenditure per Capita 7, 6, 5, 4, 6 % growth 3, 2, 25 % growth 72 % growth 1, Year Fig. 1 Real aggregate transfer program spending per capita, Values represent sums over the largest 16 transfer programs. All values are in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars Notes: Values represent sums over the largest 16 transfer programs. All values are in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars. 25 %, from 1975 to However, the end date 1986 is selected in Fig. 1 despite the contractionary events after 1986 noted in Table 1, because spending picked up again

4 Figure 3: Real expenditure per capita in means-tested programs, R.A. Moffitt 3, 93 % growth 2,5 Expenditure per Capita 2, 1,5 1, 5 9 % growth 135 % growth 18 % growth 1 % growth Top 84 programs 69 % growth 1 largest programs without Medicaid Year Fig. 2 Real expenditure per capita in means-tested programs, Sources: Top 84 programs from Sources: Spar Top(26), 84 programs and 1from largest Spar programs (26), and from1author s largest programs calculations from from authors individual calculations program fromstatistics. individual Expenditures Expenditures are sum ofare federal, sum of state, federal, andstate, local total and local expenditures total expenditures on the programs. on the programs. Top 84 figures Top prior 84 figures to 1975 prior areto 1975 program statistics. are interpolations between 1968, 1968, 1972, 1972, and and All values All values are inare 29 in 29 CPI-U-RS CPI-U-RS dollars. dollars

5 Figure The Deserving 4: Selected Poor, themeans-tested Family, and U.S. Welfare program System spending per capita, Expenditure per Capita 15 1 AFDC SSI Food Stamps CTC 5 EITC Year Fig. 3 Selected means-tested program spending per capita, All values are in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars Notes: All values are in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars. The SNAP program, as shown in the figure, grew through the 198s, fell as the

6 Figure 5: Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 by families by age and disability status, the Family, and the U.S. Welfare System 739 1,4 1,2 Elderly Disabled 1, Non-Elderly, Nondisabled Fig. 4 Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 by families by age and disability status. All values are in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars Notes: All values are in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars. adult receiving SSI or SSDI, 8 and the residual category that I term non-elderly

7 Figure 6: Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 by non-elderly, nondisabled families by family type 74 R.A. Moffitt 6 5 Single-Parent Families 4 3 Married-Parent Families 2 1 Childless Families Fig. 5 Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 by non-elderly, nondisabled families by family type. All Notes: valuesall are values in 29 are incpi-u-rs 29 CPI-U-RS dollars dollars.

8 Figure 7: Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 for non-elderly, nondisabled single-parent families by private income level, the Family, and the U.S. Welfare System 741 1,2 1, Less than 5 % % to 1 % % to 15 % 15 % to 2 % Fig. 6 Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 for non-elderly, nondisabled single-parent families by private Notes: income All values level. are inall 29values CPI-U-RS are dollars. in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars those in pretransfer deep poverty by a remarkable 35 %. At the same time, the

9 Figure 8: Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 for non-elderly, nondisabled married-parent families by private income level 742 R.A. Moffitt 9 8 Less than 5 % % to 1 % % to 15 % 3 15 % to 2 % 2 1 Fig. 7 Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 for non-elderly, nondisabled married-parent families by private income level. All values are in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars Notes: All values are in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars. stepparent families have always been treated by the programtheasdeserving single-parent Poor families

10 Figure 9: Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 for non-elderly, nondisabled childless individuals and families by private income level, the Family, and the U.S. Welfare System Less than 5 % % to 1 % 15 1 % to 15 % 1 15 % to 2 % 5 Fig. 8 Monthly benefits received in 1983 and 24 for non-elderly, nondisabled childless individuals and families Notes: All by values private areincome 29 CPI-U-RS level. Alldollars. values are in 29 CPI-U-RS dollars