TY  - JOUR
AU  - Card,David
AU  - Robins,Philip K.
TI  - Do Financial Incentives Encourage Welfare Recipients to Work? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation of the Self-Sufficiency Project
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5701
PY  - 1996
Y2  - August 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5701
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5701.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
David Card
Department of Economics
549 Evans Hall, #3880
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA  94720-3880
Tel: 510/642-5222
Fax: 510/643-7042
E-Mail: card@econ.berkeley.edu

Philip K. Robins
E-Mail: probins@miami.edu
AB  - This paper reports on a randomized evaluation of an earnings subsidy offered to long-term welfare recipients in Canada.  The program -- known as the Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) -- provides a supplement equal to one-half of the difference between a target earnings level and a participant's actual earnings.  The SSP supplement is similar to a negative income tax with two important differences:  (1) eligibility is limited to long-term welfare recipients who find a full-time job; and (2) the payment depends on individual earnings rather than family income.  Our evaluation is based on a classical randomized design: one half of a group of single parents who had been on welfare for over a year were eligible to receive the SSP supplement, while the other half were assigned to a control group.  Results for an early cohort of SSP participants and controls suggest that the financial incentives of the Self-Sufficiency Program increase labor market attachment and reduce welfare participation.
ER  -