TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kaestner,Robert
TI  - Drug Use and AFDC Participation: Is There a Connection?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5555
PY  - 1996
Y2  - May 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5555
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5555.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robert Kaestner
Institute of Government and Public Affairs
University of Illinois
815 West Van Buren Street, Suite 525
Chicago, IL  60607
Tel: 312/996-8227
E-Mail: kaestner.robert@gmail.com
AB  - Drug use and welfare are two serious social problems that have received widespread public attention.  Recently, it has been suggested that illicit drug use is a major cause of welfare, although there is only anecdotal evidence to support such a claim.  This paper provides the first systematic analysis of the issue by examining the relationship between illicit drug use and welfare participation among a nationally representative sample of young adults.   The results indicate that past year drug use, predominantly marijuana use, is positively related to future welfare participation for both non-black and black women.  The magnitude of the drug effect, however, is modest: if drug use among welfare participants was reduced to the levels of non-participants, welfare participation would decline by approximately one percent.
ER  -