The Effect of Race and Sex on Welfare Benefits

The organization of income-maintenance programs in the United States is mandated to a large extent by federal regulations, because most programs are funded by the federal government. However, the historically local nature of charity and relief in the United States has resulted in individual states and counties implementing most welfare programs.’ The system is far from unified, with a host of relatively independent programs that differ in the nature of benefits, funding source, and control. The U.S. welfare system is designed to relieve economic need, which depends on income and family size and varies by location and over time, Welfare is not awarded automatically, but is obtained through application and qualification that are affected by administration and organization. The issue this paper examines is whether, in practice, personal characteristics affect the allocation ofwelfare grants. The personal characteristics examined are race and sex. Welfare depends on need, which is a function of family size and income. Larger families have greater need and qualify for more support. As income increases, need declines and support is curtailed. That basic relationship characterizes the nature and structure of the various welfare programs. Racial and sexual preferences havenot been incorporated in the statutory criteria for the determination of welfare benefits. The American welfare system can be tested for race-based and sex-based welfare grant allocation disparities through an analysis of welfare and income data from the Current Population Survey (CPS). There have been many studies of differentials inwages attributable to personal characteristics such as race and sex. The initial empirical