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A Safety Net That Works: Improving Federal Programs for Low-Income Americans
This is an edited volume reviewing the major means-tested social programs in the United States. Each author addresses a major program or area, reviewing each area’s successes and recommending how to address shortcomings through policy change. In general, our means-tested programs do many things well, but some adjustments to each could make the system much more effective. This book provides policymakers with a broad overview of the issues at hand in each program and how to address them. Contributions by Douglas J. Besharov, Richard V. Burkhauser, Douglass M. Call, James C. Capretta, Kevin C. Corinth, Maura Corrigan, Mary C. Daly, Robert Doar, Ron Haskins, Bruce D. Meyer, Edgar O. Olsen, Angela Rachidi, Katharine B. Stevens, and Russell Sykes.
262 pages, Paperback
Published February 13, 2017
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April 11, 2017
I received a free copy of this book from the American Enterprise Institute.
Listen, it's a book about public policy. This isn't the stuff that Nobel Prizes in Literature are made of. In many places, it's dull, it's reliant on statistical analysis, and it can be a slog. But the information it contains about the current state of our safety net programs is important.
This book analyzes a number of safety net programs: the Earned Income Tax Credit, SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, child support enforcement, housing policy, TANF (cash assistance), SSI-Disabled Children, child care assistance, homelessness, and early childhood care/education. These programs have varying degrees of effectiveness, but they could all be more effective.
Many of these programs are very popular politically, and cutting them, or even reducing them substantially, is not a realistic political aspiration. However, there are certainly numerous changes that could be made to make these programs function more effectively, and/or at a lower cost to taxpayers (always a popular topic in April).
One of the examples is the comparison between HUD's program subsidizing construction of low-income housing as opposed to HUD's use of housing vouchers to provide eligible families/individuals with the ability to shop around. I was shocked to learn that subsidizing the construction of low-income housing cost 44% more than providing equally good housing under the housing voucher program. This means that, spending the same amount of money on housing vouchers could have served 72% more people.
That's the type of inefficiency and needless waste of taxpayer resources that this book seeks to address.
Listen, it's a book about public policy. This isn't the stuff that Nobel Prizes in Literature are made of. In many places, it's dull, it's reliant on statistical analysis, and it can be a slog. But the information it contains about the current state of our safety net programs is important.
This book analyzes a number of safety net programs: the Earned Income Tax Credit, SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, child support enforcement, housing policy, TANF (cash assistance), SSI-Disabled Children, child care assistance, homelessness, and early childhood care/education. These programs have varying degrees of effectiveness, but they could all be more effective.
Many of these programs are very popular politically, and cutting them, or even reducing them substantially, is not a realistic political aspiration. However, there are certainly numerous changes that could be made to make these programs function more effectively, and/or at a lower cost to taxpayers (always a popular topic in April).
One of the examples is the comparison between HUD's program subsidizing construction of low-income housing as opposed to HUD's use of housing vouchers to provide eligible families/individuals with the ability to shop around. I was shocked to learn that subsidizing the construction of low-income housing cost 44% more than providing equally good housing under the housing voucher program. This means that, spending the same amount of money on housing vouchers could have served 72% more people.
That's the type of inefficiency and needless waste of taxpayer resources that this book seeks to address.
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