As performance-based contracting in social welfare services continues to expand, concerns about potential unintended effects are also growing. We analyze the incentive effects of high-powered, performance-based contracts and their implications for program outcomes using panel data on Dutch cohorts of unemployed and disabled workers that were…

The poverty rate in America has increased during the Reagan Administration. Real welfare benefits have fallen sharply and people with jobs have been disqualified from government assistance. Using lessons from the public and private sectors, legislators are attempting to change the regulations of public assistance and welfare work programs to…

A study was conducted to determine whether existing work tests affected the timing and quality of jobs found after a period during which a person both received welfare benefits and had to register with the Employment Service (ES) in connection with their receipt. Six measurable aspects of a work test applicable to individuals were identified:…

This report describes the Jobs-Plus approach, an attempt to transform low-work, high-welfare public housing developments into high-work, low-welfare communities. It highlights the rationale of the approach, the way the demonstration has been set up to test the approach in the field, and what has been accomplished so far by the seven cities chosen…

An evaluation was conducted of Vermont's Welfare Restructuring Project (WRP), one of the earliest statewide welfare reform programs designed to increase work and reduce reliance on welfare. To assess the difference WRP made, parents applying for or receiving cash assistance in Vermont from July 1994 to December 1996 were assigned randomly to one…

An analysis of Ohio's Learning, Earning, and Parenting (LEAP) program focused on the first 18 months of program operations. The 12 randomly selected research counties contained about two-thirds of the statewide teen population targeted by LEAP. The analysis relied on field research, supplemented by data collected from county human service agencies…

This working paper assembles chapters written by onsite researchers about program implementation in each of seven cities included in the Job-Plus Community Revitalization Initiative for Public Housing Families. This report, which provides a "snapshot" of each site, documents the nature and extent of implementation as of that point in…

The Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) began in 1994 as a major welfare initiative that differed from the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) by featuring the following elements: financial incentives to work; participation requirements for long-term welfare recipients; and simplification of welfare rules and procedures. In…