Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
In this chapter I provide a brief history of the TANF program, including changes made as part of the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act. I then present a variety of program statistics, including trends in aggregate and state-level caseloads and spending, along with changes in the demographic composition of the program, especially the shift from adult with child cases to child-only cases. I also highlight the changing composition of spending on the program from cash assistance to in-kind assistance, and the challenges faced in documenting total (cash + in-kind) caseloads and spending. I follow this with a discussion of the behavioral issues surrounding TANF, including the four program goals and possible modifications as part of the 2014 reauthorization legislation, and then I provide a systematic review of the research evidence on whether those goals have been met.
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Copy CitationJames P. Ziliak, "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," NBER Working Paper 21038 (2015), https://doi.org/10.3386/w21038.
Published Versions
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, James P. Ziliak. in Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 1, Moffitt. 2016