This study focuses on how Wisconsin built up work requirements in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) prior to both Wisconsin Works (W-2) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It suggests that Wisconsin is an example to other states and that Wisconsin provides a good test of the top-down hypothesis about the implementation of government programs. Top-down models of implementation predict that a program will achieve its formal goals more fully when the political and financial resources behind it increase and policy design improves. The study confirms that prediction in the case of implementing welfare work requirements in Wisconsin. Welfare work programs in the state had little impact on dependency up through the mid-1980s because work was not a priority in welfare policy, and work programs were underdeveloped. In 1985-86, however, the state sharply increased funding and built up the job search bureaucracy. It required that more recipients participate in work programs, enter jobs rather than education, and avoid welfare if possible. It also attuned the bureaucracy to its goals using funding incentives. Improved work requirements, along with strong economic conditions, then helped drive down the welfare rolls. (Contains 54 references.) (SM)