Well-designed benefit reductions can encourage independence when reforms have the right incentives. The 1996 welfare reform that added time limits and work requirements to cash assistance programs initially faced criticism but ultimately improved outcomes for single-parent families. Effective anti-poverty programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit transfer income to low-income families while simultaneously encouraging work, providing both immediate relief and long-term mobility. Rather than merely lifting people above a poverty line by giving cash, the most successful fiscal approaches promote independence by carefully designing incentives that don’t discourage work.
Learn more about the launch of the Hoover Institution’s Fiscal Policy Initiative.
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Featuring:
- Scott Winship, American Enterprise Institute
- Bruce Meyer, University of Chicago
- Richard Burkhauser, Cornell University
