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This paper has two objectives. First, we examine state adoption and implementation of income support policies under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. We develop a composite measure of income support that includes welfare programs that scholars traditionally investigate and adds optional policies that encourage independence through work. Second, we engage a substantive focus on the administrative ability and willingness of states to adopt and implement sophisticated income support policies. We investigate the extent to which state government professionalism, ideology, economic resources, and racially based policies have shaped state policy. We find that the percentage of the state population is liberal; state racial demographics and governmental professionalism are critical determinants of state welfare and income support regimes. Significantly, we find no evidence that states are converging toward high-quality, effectively financed welfare policies or income regime policies to help the poor move into and economically survive in the job market.
KEY WORDS: poverty, welfare, income regimes, government capacity, devolution
Introduction
A decade has passed since Congress enacted and President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). This act abolished the much-maligned entitlement program Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). States gained broad discretion to design their welfare programs and to set eligibility and benefit levels but also had to implement work requirements and set time limits on enrollment (Peck, 2003; Soss, Schram, Vartanian, & O'Brien, 2001; Weaver, 2000). The resulting state plans have fundamentally transformed the American welfare system.
Our purpose in this paper is twofold. First, we are interested in why states have made disparate policy choices in designing their welfare programs. We develop a composite measure of income support that includes welfare programs that scholars traditionally investigate and adds policies that have become more important following PRWORA. Because PRWORA permitted states a wider range of options with which to address poverty and encourage independence through work, a comprehensive measure of income support provides a better reflection of state responses to PRWORA. Our second objective is to engage a substantive focus on the administrative ability and willingness of states to adopt and implement sophisticated income support policies. We investigate the extent to which...