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Annual Review of Economics

Volume 10, 2018

Welfare Reform and the Labor Market

Abstract

This article reviews the basic theoretical models that are appropriate for analyzing different types of welfare reforms, as well as the related empirical literature. We first present the canonical labor supply model of a classical welfare program and then extend this basic framework to include in-kind transfers, incomplete take-up, human capital, preference persistence, and borrowing and saving. The empirical literature on these models is presented. The negative income tax, earnings subsidies, US welfare reforms with features that differ from those in other countries, and childcare reforms are then surveyed in terms of both the theoretical models and the empirical literature surrounding each.

Keyword(s): childcare reform, earnings subsidy, JEL I38, JEL J13, JEL J22, JEL J24, labor supply, welfare reform
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2018-08-02
2024-04-19
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/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-080217-053452
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Welfare Reform and the Labor Market
Annual Review of Economics 10, 347 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080217-053452
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-080217-053452
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-080217-053452
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