TY  - JOUR
AU  - Currie,Janet
TI  - Welfare and the Well-Being of Children: The Relative Effectiveness of Cash and In-Kind Transfers
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4539
PY  - 1993
Y2  - November 1993
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4539
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4539.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Janet Currie
Princeton University
316 Wallace Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
Tel: 609-258-7393
Fax: 609-258-5974
E-Mail: jcurrie@princeton.edu
M1  - published as Janet Currie. "Welfare and the Well-Being of Children: The Relative Effectiveness of Cash and In-Kind Transfers," in James M. Poterba, editor, "Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 8" MIT Press (1994)

AB  - Cash transfers to families with children are increasingly being restricted to parents who work, while families of non-working parents are receiving a progressively larger share of their benefits in kind. This paper provides an evaluation of the empirical evidence regarding the effects of in-kind and cash transfer program on the children who are their intended beneficiaries.  A distinction is made between in- kind transfer programs, such as the Food Stamp Program, that provide transfers to families that are earmarked for certain purposes, and programs such as Medicaid that provide specific services directly to children.  Although the evidence is incomplete, it suggests that in- kind programs have stronger effects on children than cash transfers, and that programs that target specific benefits directly to children have the largest positive effects.
ER  -