Elizabeth Powers

We attempt to draw inferences about the potential behavioral responses to means testing Social Security by examining the effects of the Supplementary Security Income (SSI) program for the aged on wealth accumulation and employment.

Despite the attention that the fertility of welfare recipients has received recently, surprisingly little is known about it.

This paper empirically tests whether the asset limit associated with the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program discourages wealth accumulation by actual and prospective participants.

A longitudinal study examining how the level of AFDC benefits and the per-child increment affect births. Although the findings support the "AFDC benefits cause births" hypothesis...

When the Federal Reserve System was established in 1914, part of its purpose was "to furnish an elastic currency," that is, a currency that could be quickly expanded or contracted as needed.

In the 1960s, economic growth seemed to be the tonic for poverty. From 1960 to 1969, real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a 4.1 percent average annual rate, while the percentage of all persons in poverty declined at an annualized 5.9 percent.

The U.S. poverty rate is among the most widely used indicators of the nation’s economic success—and of how that success is shared.