Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/142378 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9939
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The Self-Sufficiency Project was a well-known welfare-to-work experiment that provided a generous but time-limited financial incentive to leave welfare and enter the workforce. Experimental evidence showed large short-term impacts but no lasting effects. We argue that these conclusions need to be re-assessed. Policy changes implemented during the SSP implied the behavior of the control group did not provide an appropriate counterfactual. We estimate the impacts the financial incentive would have had in a stable policy environment. This re-assessment leads to significant changes in the lessons previously reached. Our study demonstrates that experimental findings need to be interpreted with care.
Subjects: 
welfare-to-work policies
social experiments
Self-Sufficiency Project
JEL: 
C90
H53
I38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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