Year Published
1999
Abstract
Many studies in the 1970s and 1980s have examined the effects of the welfare system
on individual behavior. All of these studies fail to appropriately consider low income housing
assistance. Most studies have either ignored housing assistance or have implicitly assumed that
there is no rationing in this program. This paper presents a simple model that measures the
impact of rationing one public assistance program in the context of the entire benefit package
offered to female-headed households.
The results suggest that the neglect of controls for the rationing in the housing
programs accounts for a large part of the insensitivity of housing assistance found in past
research. Also, simulations suggest that the housing programs raise the disincentives of the
welfare package an additional twenty-one percent when compared to the entitlement portion of
the package alone.
on individual behavior. All of these studies fail to appropriately consider low income housing
assistance. Most studies have either ignored housing assistance or have implicitly assumed that
there is no rationing in this program. This paper presents a simple model that measures the
impact of rationing one public assistance program in the context of the entire benefit package
offered to female-headed households.
The results suggest that the neglect of controls for the rationing in the housing
programs accounts for a large part of the insensitivity of housing assistance found in past
research. Also, simulations suggest that the housing programs raise the disincentives of the
welfare package an additional twenty-one percent when compared to the entitlement portion of
the package alone.
Research Category
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