Schmidt, Lucie, and Purvi Sevak. 2004. "AFDC, SSI, and Welfare Reform Aggressiveness: Caseload Reductions versus Caseload Shifting." Journal of Human Resources 39(3): 792-812.

Welfare reform has made receipt of cash benefits more difficult and less attractive for single mothers. We examine whether reforms of AFDC affected caseloads of another program--Supplemental Security Income (SSI). We exploit state variation in welfare reform over time, and find that female headed households in states aggressively pursuing welfare reform were 21.6 percent more likely to receive SSI. This implies that a decrease in caseloads in one program cannot be interpreted as an equal-sized decrease in the number of families receiving public assistance. In addition, our results have policy implications for the well-being of families affected by welfare reform time limits.

Lucie Schmidt is an assistant professor in the department of economics at Williams College. Purvi Sevak is an assistant professor in the department of economics at Hunter College. The authors are grateful to Rebecca Blank, John Bound, Laura Chadwick, Julie Cullen, George Fulton, Emma Hutchinson, Mark Long, Pamela Loprest, Gordon Mermin, David Wittenburg, two referees of this journal, and participants in the Michigan Public Finance Lunch for helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning January 2005 through December 2008 from Purvi Sevak at psevak@hunter.cuny.edu.