The Labor Supply Effects of Welfare Reform

Some of the ideas in this paper were inspired by communications with David Card, Patricia Ruggles, and Bruce Meyer. I am also grateful to Daniel McMurrer for providing me with spreadsheets describing the Urban Institute's methodology for estimating the effects of welfare work requirements. Ken Kline provided excellent research assistance. The research for this paper was conducted with financial assistance from the Joint Center for Poverty Research, for the project " Labor Markets and Less Skilled Workers. " I also received financial assistance from the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF# 85-96-17), and the Rockefeller Foundation (RF 94063 #9), as part of the project " Jobs for the Poor: Can Labor Demand Policies Help? " The opinions, findings, and conclusions of this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Joint Center for Poverty Research, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Upjohn Institute, or any of the persons mentioned above.