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Intended And Unintended Effects Of The War On Poverty: What Research Tells Us And Implications For Policy

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  • Marianne P. Bitler
  • Lynn A. Karoly

Abstract

During the mid‐1960s, the United States adopted a series of cash and in‐kind transfer programs, as well as human capital investment strategies, as part of the War on Poverty. A number of other programs were first proposed as part of this “war” but were not implemented until the mid‐1970s. These programs had noble goals: to increase incomes at the bottom of the income distribution, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition, heath, and human capital. However, various features of the programs also had the potential to produce unintended consequences: for example, means‐tested programs can discourage work. In this paper, we comprehensively evaluate the main War on Poverty programs that were aimed at the low‐income nonelderly population along with several follow‐on programs. We focus on both intended and unintended consequences, drawing on the most compelling causal evidence. We conclude with a series of lessons learned and questions that are outstanding.

Suggested Citation

  • Marianne P. Bitler & Lynn A. Karoly, 2015. "Intended And Unintended Effects Of The War On Poverty: What Research Tells Us And Implications For Policy," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 639-696, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:34:y:2015:i:3:p:639-696
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/pam.21842
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    Cited by:

    1. Bruch, Sarah K. & van der Naald, Joseph & Gornick, Janet C., 2022. "Poverty Reduction through Federal and State Policy Mechanisms: Variation Over Time and Across the U.S. States," SocArXiv jz5xp, Center for Open Science.
    2. Maggie R. Jones & Emilia Simeonova & Randall Akee, 2020. "The EITC and Intergenerational Mobility," Working Papers 20-35, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Damian Clarke & Sonia Oreffice & Climent Quintana‐Domeque, 2021. "On the Value of Birth Weight," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(5), pages 1130-1159, October.
    4. Clarke, Damian & Cortés, Gustavo & Vergara, Diego, 2017. "Growing Together: Assessing Equity and Effciency in an Early-Life Health Program in Chile," Research Department working papers 1139, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    5. Damian Clarke & Gustavo Cortés Méndez & Diego Vergara Sepúlveda, 2020. "Growing together: assessing equity and efficiency in a prenatal health program," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 883-956, July.
    6. Marianne Bitler & Theodore F. Figinski, 2024. "Long-Run Effects of Food Assistance: Evidence from the Food Stamp Program and Administrative Data," NBER Working Papers 33182, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Thomas Biegert & David Brady & Lena Hipp, 2022. "Cross-National Variation in the Relationship between Welfare Generosity and Single Mother Employment," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 702(1), pages 37-54, July.
    8. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Nathan Kettlewell & Stefanie Schurer & Sven Silburn, 2023. "The Effect of Quarantining Welfare on School Attendance in Indigenous Communities," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(6), pages 2072-2110.
    9. Brady, David, 2018. "Theories of the Causes of Poverty," SocArXiv jud53, Center for Open Science.
    10. Biegert, Thomas & Brady, David & Hipp, Lena, 2022. "Cross-National Variation in the Relationship between Welfare Generosity and Single Mother Employment," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 702(1), pages 37-54.
    11. Waring, Melody K. & Meyer, Daniel R., 2020. "Welfare, work, and single mothers: The Great Recession and income packaging strategies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

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