When financial work incentives pay for themselves: Evidence from a randomized social experiment for welfare recipients

Charles Michalopoulos; Philip K. Robins; David Card

doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2002.02.001

When financial work incentives pay for themselves: Evidence from a randomized social experiment for welfare recipients

Charles Michalopoulos, Philip K. Robins, David Card

Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper summarizes early findings from a social experiment that provided financial incentives for new welfare recipients to leave welfare and work full time. The financial incentive was essentially a negative income tax with a requirement that people work at least 30 h/week. Early results show that the financial incentive increased full-time employment, earnings, and income, and reduced poverty. Furthermore, at the end of the period discussed in this paper, the program was paying for itself through increased tax revenues.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	5-29
Number of pages	25
Journal	Journal of Public Economics
Volume	89
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2002.02.001
State	Published - Jan 1 2005

Keywords

Financial incentives
Labor supply
Social experimentation
Welfare reform
Welfare-to-work programs

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Finance
Economics and Econometrics

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10.1016/j.jpubeco.2002.02.001

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