Reassessing welfare reform data: a response to cherry |
| |
Authors: | Karen Christopher |
| |
Institution: | Department of Women's and Gender Studies and Sociology , University of Louisville , 331 Gardiner Hall, Louisville, Kentucky, 40292, USA E-mail: k.christopher@louisville.edu |
| |
Abstract: | Abstract This is a response to Robert Cherry's comment on the article, “Welfare as We Don't] Know It: A Review and Feminist Critique of Welfare Reform Research” that appeared in the 10(2) issue of Feminist Economics. This response argues that while some combination of welfare reform, the booming economy in the late 1990s, and changes in economic policy all worked together to decrease caseloads and increase employment rates among welfare leavers, these are incomplete measures of the impact of welfare reform on the lives of lone mothers. This paper also argues that the effects of welfare reform on lone mothers are more mixed than Cherry acknowledges. This paper concludes that when one holistically examines low-income lone mothers' lives, it is premature to declare welfare reform a success. |
| |
Keywords: | Feminist research labor market welfare reform JEL Codes: I30 I31 I38 |
|
|