Devolution in the Details: Understanding State Social Safety Net Policy Responses in a Post-Welfare Reform Era

• In Event: Measuring and Modeling Cross-State Variation in Social Policy for Children and Families

Abstract

This paper describes the State Safety Net Policy (SSNP) dataset which provides estimates of two key dimensions of social provision – generosity and inclusion—across nine safety net programs that influence the economic resources of economically-marginalized working-age adults and their dependents either directly (by providing cash) or indirectly (by providing other goods or services), and in which states have some degree of discretion in financing, rulemaking, or administration (Bruch, Meyers, and Gornick 2018). The SSNP includes yearly state-level estimates of the generosity and inclusion from 1994 through 2024 for cash assistance (AFDC/TANF), food assistance (Food Stamps/SNAP), child health insurance (Medicaid and CHIP), child support enforcement, child care subsidies (CCDBG/CCDF and TANF), early childhood education (Head Start and state pre-K programs), Unemployment Insurance (UI), child disability assistance (SSI), and state income taxes. The SSNP measures, comparable across multiple programs, offer a holistic and capacious view of social policies as they are provided and received. They capture persistence and change in the governance of social policy—including deference to labor markets, devolution, and delegation. They facilitate comparison across programs and over time, effectively harmonizing data for multiple programs administered through different entities at the state and local levels. And they facilitate consideration of the relationship between programs; of the ways in which multiple policies are configured or reconfigured, and the ways in which such configurations (or “packages” of support) are experienced by recipients. These measures are designed to capture the structure and exercise of state and local discretion across these programs, but also to turn our attention from discrete and formal policy choices to the range of decisions and practices, and to the diverse mechanisms of policy making and implementation that determine the resulting scope and generosity of social provision. They reflect statutory policy choices (such as maximum benefits), administrative rules (such as those regarding eligibility), and operational procedures and practices that collectively determine the generosity and inclusion of social provision for low-income families with children. Utilizing these measures, we estimate trends in inclusion and generosity (using 50-state medians) and describe the patterns and extent of state variation over time and across programs (using Gini and COV measures). We find that while many of the trends in levels and variation are tied to federal policy and administrative guidance as well as national economic conditions, there are clear state and regional patterns that map onto differences in state discretionary policy choices and divergent state responses to key moments such as the “end of welfare” in 1996, the Great Recession of 2008-10, and the COVID crisis of 2020-21.

Author

• Arun Chaudhary, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author