Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/33492 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 1728
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Labor supply theory predicts systematic heterogeneity in the impact of recent welfare reforms on earnings, transfers, and income. Yet most welfare reform research focuses on mean impacts. We investigate the importance of heterogeneity using random-assignment data from Connecticut's Jobs First waiver, which features key elements of post-1996 welfare programs. Estimated quantile treatment effects exhibit the substantial heterogeneity predicted by labor supply theory. Thus mean impacts miss a great deal. Looking separately at samples of dropouts and other women does not improve the performance of mean impacts. We conclude that welfare reform's effects are likely both more varied and more extensive than has been recognized.
Subjects: 
treatment effect heterogeneity
welfare reform
distributional effects
JEL: 
J2
I38
H53
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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