IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v10y1991i4p603-615.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When the witch doctors agree: The family support act and social science research

Author

Listed:
  • Erica B. Baum

    (Executive Assistant to the President for Programs and Operations at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)

Abstract

In 1986 the author was recruited by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan to draft new federal welfare reform legislation for the 100th Congress. The result was the Family Support Act of 1988. From the beginning it was planned that the bill would reflect the best knowledge available about helping poor families make the transition from dependence on welfare to independence and work. In contrast to the experience of the 1970s, when the “Witch Doctors” of social science seemed unable to agree on appropriate policies, research made a difference for FSA. The education, training, and work requirements in the legislation were substantially influenced by the evaluations of welfare-to-work programs conducted by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, and the conduct of MDRC in the dissemination of these results contributed significantly to the effort's political success. Whether this marks a new phase in the connection between social policy and research is uncertain.

Suggested Citation

  • Erica B. Baum, 1991. "When the witch doctors agree: The family support act and social science research," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 603-615.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:10:y:1991:i:4:p:603-615
    DOI: 10.2307/3324987
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2307/3324987
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2307/3324987?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aaron, Henry J, 1989. "Politics and the Professors Revisited," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 1-15, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. DAVID H. Greenberg, 1992. "Conceptual Issues In Cost/Benefit Analysis Of Welfare‐To‐Work Programs," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 10(4), pages 51-64, October.
    2. Straßheim, Holger, 2001. "Der Ruf der Sirenen - Zur Dynamik politischen Benchmarkings: Eine Analyse anhand der US-Sozialreformen," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Regulation of Work FS II 01-201, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    3. Judith M. Gueron, 2003. "Presidential address-Fostering research excellence and impacting policy and practice: The welfare reform story," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 163-174.
    4. EFI - Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (ed.), 2013. "Research, innovation and technological performance in Germany - EFI Report 2013," Reports on Research, Innovation and Technological Performance in Germany, Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation (EFI) - Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation, Berlin, volume 127, number 2013e, March.
    5. Judith M. Gueron & Gayle Hamilton, 2023. "Using Multi-Arm Designs to Test Operating Welfare-to-Work Programs," Evaluation Review, , vol. 47(1), pages 71-103, February.
    6. Michael Wiseman, 1996. "State strategies for welfare reform: The Wisconsin story," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(4), pages 515-546.
    7. M. Wiseman, "undated". "State strategies for welfare reform: The Wisconsin Story (Revised)," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1066-95, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    8. Michael Wiseman, 1991. "Research and policy: An afterword for the symposium on the family support act of 1988," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 657-666.
    9. David Greenberg & Marvin Mandell & Matthew Onstott, 2000. "The dissemination and utilization of welfare-to-work experiments in state policymaking," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(3), pages 367-382.
    10. Carol Harvey & Michael J. Camasso & Radha Jagannathan, 2000. "Evaluating Welfare Reform Waivers under Section 1115," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 165-188, Fall.
    11. Douglas J. Besharov, 2009. "Presidential address: From the Great Society to continuous improvement government: Shifting from “does it work?” to “what would make it better?”," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 199-220.
    12. David H. Greenberg & Marvin B. Mandell, 1991. "Research utilization in policymaking: A tale of two series (of social experiments)," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 633-656.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard E. Just & Gordon C. Rausser, 1989. "An Assessment of the Agricultural Economics Profession," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 71(5), pages 1177-1190.
    2. Beryl A. Radin, 1997. "Presidential address: The evolution of the policy analysis field: From conversation to conversations," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(2), pages 204-218.
    3. John D. Wilson, 1990. "The Optimal Taxation of Internationally Mobile Capital in an Efficiency Wage Model," NBER Chapters, in: Taxation in the Global Economy, pages 397-432, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Fullerton, Don & Metcalf, Gilbert E., 2002. "Tax incidence," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 26, pages 1787-1872, Elsevier.
    5. Ludwig, Jens, 1999. "Information and inner city educational attainment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 17-30, February.
    6. Smith, Vincent H., 1998. "Measuring the benefits of social science research," Impact assessments 2, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Charles E. McLure, Jr., 1992. "The Political Economy of Tax Reforms and Their Implications for Interdependence: United States," NBER Chapters, in: The Political Economy of Tax Reform, pages 97-116, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Edgar L. Feige, 2000. "Taxation for the 21st century: the automated payment transaction (APT) tax," Economic Policy, CEPR;CES;MSH, vol. 15(31), pages 474-511.
    9. Ramser, Hans Jürgen, 1990. "Industriepolitik und Wachstumstheorie: Referat anläßlich des 20. Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Seminars Ottobeuren, 25.-28. September 1990," Discussion Papers, Series I 249, University of Konstanz, Department of Economics.
    10. Thirsk, Wayne, 1991. "Lessons from tax reform : an overview," Policy Research Working Paper Series 576, The World Bank.
    11. Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2014. "Using the Tax System to Address Competition Issues With a Carbon Tax," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 67(4), pages 779-806, December.
    12. Bazelon, Coleman, 1991. "The Importance of Political Markets in Formulating Economic Policy Recommendations," 1991 Annual Meeting, August 4-7, Manhattan, Kansas 271217, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Kanbur, Ravi & Lustig, Nora, 1999. "Why is Inequality Back on the Agenda?," Working Papers 127690, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    14. Ron Haskins, 1991. "Congress writes a law: Research and welfare reform," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 616-632.
    15. A. B. Atkinson, 1998. "The distribution of income in industrialized countries," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 11-32.
    16. Timothy Smeeding & Andrea Brandolini, 2007. "Inequality Patterns in Western-Type Democracies: Cross-Country Differences and Time Changes," LIS Working papers 458, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    17. C. F. Manski, "undated". "Learning about social programs from experiments with random assignment of treatments," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1061-95, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    18. Greg Duncan & Rachel Dunifon & Morgan Ward Doran & W. Jean Yeung, 1998. "How Different ARE Welfare and Working Families? And Do Those Differences Matter for Children's Achievement?," JCPR Working Papers 38, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    19. Peter deLeon, 1987. "The influence of analysis on U.S. defense policys," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 20(2), pages 105-128, June.
    20. Douglas J. Besharov, 2009. "Presidential address: From the Great Society to continuous improvement government: Shifting from “does it work?” to “what would make it better?”," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 199-220.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:10:y:1991:i:4:p:603-615. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.