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Welfare Use when Approaching the Time Limit

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  • Francesca Mazzolari

Abstract

Time limits reduce caseloads directly by cutting off benefits after a time-limited usage, but may also provide families with an incentive to reduce welfare use in order to conserve their benefits. Both effects depend on the stock of remaining months of eligibility. This is the first empirical study to incorporate information on this crucial determinant of takeup and eligibility under time limits. Accounting for the potential endogeneity of an individual’s past use, time limits are estimated to have decreased welfare use by 25 percent between 1996 and 2003. Roughly one-fifth of this reduction is due to behavioral responses.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Mazzolari, 2007. "Welfare Use when Approaching the Time Limit," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:42:y:2007:i3:p596-618
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Christopher A. Swann, 2005. "Welfare Reform When Recipients Are Forward-Looking," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(1).
    2. Michael P. Keane & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2002. "Estimating Welfare Effects Consistent with Forward-Looking Behavior. Part I: Lessons from a Simulation Exercise," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(3), pages 570-599.
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    5. Schoeni, R.F. & Blank, R.M., 2000. "What Has Welfare Reform Accomplished? Impacts on Welfare Participation, Employment, Income, Poverty, and Family Structure," Papers 00-02, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
    6. Robert A. Moffitt, 2003. "Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number moff03-1.
    7. Unknown, 2005. "Forward," 2005 Conference: Slovenia in the EU - Challenges for Agriculture, Food Science and Rural Affairs, November 10-11, 2005, Moravske Toplice, Slovenia 183804, Slovenian Association of Agricultural Economists (DAES).
    8. James P. Ziliak & David N. Figlio & Elizabeth E. Davis & Laura S. Connolly, 2000. "Accounting for the Decline in AFDC Caseloads: Welfare Reform or the Economy?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 35(3), pages 570-586.
    9. Schoeni, R.F. & Blank, R.M., 2000. "What Has Welfare Reform Accomplished? Impacts on Welfare Participation, Employment, Income, Poverty, and Family Structure," Papers 00-02, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
    10. Robert A. Moffitt, 1999. "The Effect of Pre-PRWORA Waivers on AFDC Caseloads and Female Earnings, Income, and Labor Force Behavior," JCPR Working Papers 89, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jeounghee Kim, 2010. "Welfare-to-Work Programs and the Dynamics of TANF Use," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 198-211, June.
    2. Caroline Danielson & Deborah Reed & Qian Li & Jay Liao, "undated". "Sanctions and Time Limits in California's Welfare Program," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 09550879b2754a38b32e03488, Mathematica Policy Research.
    3. Leonard, Jonathan & Mas, Alexandre, 2008. "Welfare reform, time limits, and infant health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1551-1566, December.
    4. Julia Shu-Huah Wang, 2021. "State TANF Time Limit and Work Sanction Stringencies and Long-Term Trajectories of Welfare Use, Labor Supply, and Income," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 650-696, December.
    5. Jiyoon Kim, 2018. "The Timing Of Exemptions From Welfare Work Requirements And Its Effects On Mothers' Work And Welfare Receipt Around Childbirth," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(1), pages 317-342, January.
    6. Vanessa Hunn & Claudia Heath, 2011. "Path Analysis of Welfare Use: Depression as a Mediating Factor," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 341-355, June.
    7. Marc K Chan, 2014. "Measuring the Dynamic Effects of Welfare Time Limits," Working Paper Series 23, Economics Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    8. Manasi Deshpande & Rebecca Dizon-Ross, 2023. "The (Lack of) Anticipatory Effects of the Social Safety Net on Human Capital Investment," NBER Working Papers 31512, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Kyoung Hag Lee, 2010. "Effect of Lifetime Limits and Differences between TANF Leavers Who Had Reached Their Lifetime Limits and Those Who Had Exited Voluntarily," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2(4), pages 27-48, November.
    10. Mazzolari, Francesca & Ragusa, Giuseppe, 2012. "Time Limits: The Effects on Welfare Use and Other Consumption-Smoothing Mechanisms," IZA Discussion Papers 6993, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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