TY  - JOUR
AU  - Matsudaira,Jordan D.
AU  - Blank,Rebecca M.
TI  - The Impact of Earnings Disregards on the Behavior of Low Income Families
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14038
PY  - 2008
Y2  - May 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14038
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14038.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jordan D. Matsudaira
133 Martha Van Renssaeler Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY  14850
E-Mail: jordan.matsudaira@cornell.edu

Rebecca M. Blank
Under Secretary for Economic Affairs
Department of Commerce
Economics and Statistics Administration
Herbert C. Hoover Building, Room 4848
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC  20230
Tel: 202-482-3727
Fax: 202-482-0432
E-Mail: rblank@doc.gov
AB  - This paper investigates the impact of changes in earnings disregards for welfare assistance received by single mothers following welfare reform in 1996.  Some states adopted much higher earnings disregards (women could work full time and still receive welfare), while other states did not. We explore the effect of these changes on women's labor supply and income using several data sources and multiple estimation strategies.  Our results indicate these changes had little effect on labor supply or income.  We show this is because few women used these earnings disregards.  This is surprising and we discuss why this might occur.
ER  -