IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v98y2017i5p1352-1373.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“I Don't Agree with Giving Cash†: A Survey Experiment Examining Support for Public Assistance

Author

Listed:
  • Colin Campbell
  • S. Michael Gaddis

Abstract

Objective Existing research on support for anti†poverty programs largely focuses on broad categories of welfare. In this article, we examine variations in support across different public assistance programs. Methods We use an experimental survey design to examine whether support for public assistance is dependent on the type of aid offered. Results We find that programs that offer benefits in†kind are more popular than cash transfers. Moreover, food stamps and child†care subsidies enjoy more support than housing assistance. Open†ended survey responses show that when evaluating anti†poverty programs, respondents adopt one of two perspectives: (1) cash assistance is problematic but other forms of assistance are acceptable or (2) any assistance is problematic. Conclusion By too narrowly focusing on welfare, social scientists run the risk of developing theories and explanations that may not apply to the much larger part of the safety net that is delivered in†kind.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin Campbell & S. Michael Gaddis, 2017. "“I Don't Agree with Giving Cash†: A Survey Experiment Examining Support for Public Assistance," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1352-1373, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:98:y:2017:i:5:p:1352-1373
    DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12338
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12338
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ssqu.12338?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gaddis, S. Michael, 2023. "Signaling Class: An Examination of the Treatment Validity of Names Used to Signal Race in Bias Experiments with Methodological Recommendations for Name Selection," SocArXiv cdgju, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:98:y:2017:i:5:p:1352-1373. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.