The winter 2018 issue of Pathways examines whether the welfare reform of 1996 delivered as intended and whether it’s time to undertake a new round of reform.
Table of Contents
Editors’ Note David Grusky, Charles Varner, Marybeth Mattingly, and Stephanie Garlow
Past, Present, and Future of Welfare Newt Gingrich, Bruce Reed, and Diane Schanzenbach
The inside architects of welfare reform reflect on how the revolution happened, what it achieved, and what remains to be done.
The Unsuccessful Family Experiment Daniel T. Lichter
For those who believe that the welfare reform bill was mainly oriented toward promoting work, it might be surprising to learn that the bill begins with this line: “Marriage is the foundation of a successful society.” How did the grand plan to save the family work out?
The Kids Are All Right Janet M. Currie
How are our children doing? Are the doom-and-gloomers right?
State Policy Choices
The welfare reform of 1996 was conceived in the main as an experiment with radical decentralization of policy. How is that decentralizing experiment faring? Five experts—Gordon Berlin, Michael Wiseman Robert Greenstein, Raquel Hatter, and Don Winstead—weigh in.
A New Social Compact
Where should we go from here? We close with three very different diagnoses ... and three very different prescriptions.
The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, a program of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, is partly supported by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Elfenworks Foundation, the Google.org Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the National Science Foundation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Ballmer Group, and The James Irvine Foundation.
