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  4. December 2007
  5. Children in the Vanguard of the U.S. Welfare State: A Review of Janet Currie's The Invisible Safety Net and Jane Waldfogel's What Children Need

Children in the Vanguard of the U.S. Welfare State: A Review of Janet Currie's The Invisible Safety Net and Jane Waldfogel's What Children Need

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Abstract

Policy driven social science research intended to influence the future of the U.S. welfare state has, during the past decade, emphasized improving the life-chances of children, particularly children disadvantaged at birth by the socioeconomic status of their parents. This essay samples that literature, discussing in detail the contents and implications of two recent largely synthetic volumes from this genre.

Citation

Smolensky, Eugene. 2007. "Children in the Vanguard of the U.S. Welfare State: A Review of Janet Currie's The Invisible Safety Net and Jane Waldfogel's What Children Need." Journal of Economic Literature, 45 (4): 1011-1023. DOI: 10.1257/jel.45.4.1011

JEL Classification

  • I38 Welfare and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • P16 Capitalist Systems: Political Economy