TY  - JOUR
AU  - Brown,Charles
AU  - Oates,Wallace E.
TI  - Assistance to the Poor in a Federal System
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 1715
PY  - 1987
Y2  - December 1987
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1715
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1715.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Charles C. Brown
Department of Economics
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1220
Tel: 734/763-3036
Fax: 734/647-1186
E-Mail: charlieb@umich.edu

Wallace Oates
Dept. of Economics
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
E-Mail: oates@econ.umd.edu
AB  - This paper explores the roles of different levels of government in assisting the poor. Using a model with utility interdependence, the paper presents some theoretical results on how levels of poor relief vary with the extent of mobility of the poor under both centralized and decentralized systems of support. After surveying the relevant empirical work and the experience under the English Poor Laws, the paper argues for a basic role for central government in this function.
ER  -