The use of short-term rental subsidy vouchers offers a new approach to addressing the housing needs of families facing homelessness. In Massachusetts, the Family Home pilot program placed homeless families in housing instead of shelter, providing two years of rental subsidy plus support services with the goal of enabling families to maintain market rate housing. This mixed-method case study com...

Utility subsidies are often defended as promoting universal service. However, specific support formulas may be poorly targeted and/or designed. The U.S. high cost loop support (HCLS) program (formerly referred to as the Universal Service Fund (USF)), has been a key component of the FCC’s USF program. With proposed initiatives for universal access to broadband, it is useful to critically evaluat...

Massachusetts was the first State to implement a premium subsidy program for employer-sponsored health insurance, using both Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funding. The Insurance Partnership (IP) provides subsidies directly to small employers, and the Premium Assistance Program provides subsidies to their low-income employees. Approximately 3,500 small firms curr...

The U.S. government awarded export subsidies to agribusiness firms through the Export Enhancement Program (EEP). This study analyzes (a) whether the subsidies promoted new firm market entry and (b) whether firm characteristics influenced program participation. Trade in three commodities, poultry, wheat, and wheat flour, was analyzed using firm-level data. It was found that new firm market entry...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the evaluation of local government Web sites carrying information on infertility by infertile women and by government staff. In particular, the study investigated whether the women and staff differed with respect to the information they rate as important and their self-reported satisfaction with the Web sites. DESIGN AND SAMPLE Cross-sectional descriptive study. Sixty...

The Medicare Part D outpatient prescription drug program created significant opportunities for low-income Medicare beneficiaries to receive subsidies to participate in the program and lower their out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. Over 12.5 million beneficiaries are believed to be eligible (using estimates from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS) for the low-income sub...

The paper introduces tax evasion through subsidies due to false declarations of charitable donations. The study distinguishes between a rebate and match subsidy in an experimental setting. Under the rebate subsidy the individual gets the subsidy, while under the match subsidy the charity organization gets the subsidy. First, I develop a theoretical model of charitable giving and tax evasion. Se...