Making Effective Welfare Policy: A Comparison Between States
Session Title
Other Abstracts
Faculty Mentor
Michael Lipscomb, Ph.D.
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Political Science
Abstract
I conducted a study called “The Status of Welfare and the Reduction of Poverty Across the United States”, which was presented at SOURCE 2022. The goal of this study was to isolate welfare, and especially Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF), from all other potentially interfering variables in order to measure its effectiveness in reducing real poverty. The results were clear: South Carolina and Texas, who were marked as having the least spending and most restrictions, were the most able to combat poverty. Wisconsin and California, who were marked as having high spending and few restrictions, were the least able. Rhode Island was also marked as having high spending and few restrictions, but was still the most able to combat poverty over the other states that were studied, being the only state with a correlation less than -1. While there are few reasons to doubt the general truth of this data, recognizing the restraints put upon the collection process, there are few gains to knowing “what” without also knowing “why”. The goal of this current study is to determine whether Rhode Island is an outlier due to certain specifics and extremes, or because it was able to implement similar policies as Texas and South Carolina with greater efficacy. In simpler terms, we have analyzed these systems on a deeper, detailed level in order to discover why these systems are more or less effective compared to one another.
Course Assignment
PLSC 490 – Lipscomb
Previously Presented/Performed?
Winthrop University Showcase of Winthrop University Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors, Rock Hill, SC, April 2022 and 2023
Start Date
15-4-2023 12:00 PM
Making Effective Welfare Policy: A Comparison Between States
I conducted a study called “The Status of Welfare and the Reduction of Poverty Across the United States”, which was presented at SOURCE 2022. The goal of this study was to isolate welfare, and especially Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF), from all other potentially interfering variables in order to measure its effectiveness in reducing real poverty. The results were clear: South Carolina and Texas, who were marked as having the least spending and most restrictions, were the most able to combat poverty. Wisconsin and California, who were marked as having high spending and few restrictions, were the least able. Rhode Island was also marked as having high spending and few restrictions, but was still the most able to combat poverty over the other states that were studied, being the only state with a correlation less than -1. While there are few reasons to doubt the general truth of this data, recognizing the restraints put upon the collection process, there are few gains to knowing “what” without also knowing “why”. The goal of this current study is to determine whether Rhode Island is an outlier due to certain specifics and extremes, or because it was able to implement similar policies as Texas and South Carolina with greater efficacy. In simpler terms, we have analyzed these systems on a deeper, detailed level in order to discover why these systems are more or less effective compared to one another.
