Lane Kenworthy Lisa Thiebaud University of Arizona
Prior to the establishment of Aid to Dependent Children in 1935, states offered cash assistance to single mothers and their children through locally administered programs known as mothers' pensions. Since the first mothers' pension law was passed in 1911, the rank-ordering of states' generosity has been remarkably stable, shifting only after welfare reform in 1996. Prior research has neither documented nor explained this remarkable path dependence. This dissertation will study initial levels of welfare generosity across states as well as why the rank-ordering of states' benefit levels remained so unvarying while the programs proffering assistance (and the country as a whole) changed dramatically. It is hypothesized that differences in state capacity and racial composition across states during the mothers? pension era can explain states? differing trajectories with regard to generosity. The co-PI will use three analytic strategies: content analysis of initial mothers' pension legislation, statistical analysis of benefit levels, and case studies of Massachusetts and Texas utilizing process-tracing of archival material. This project has the potential to contribute to substantive and theoretical knowledge about the American welfare state. Substantively, we know very little about welfare policy at the state level in the US, and what we do know is focused on the antecedents to and effects of the 1996 welfare reform. Furthermore, the extant literature on welfare generosity at the state level, which is purely quantitative, lacks attention to causal mechanisms. Theoretically, scholars have long considered race to be a key part of the explanation for the limited American welfare state, but they have only recently taken the interaction between race and state capacity into account. For example, the stingiest states usually have both weak state capacity and a large African-American population, and it may be the combination of these factors that ensures low benefits.
As decision-making about social policy shifts from a federal to a state responsibility, it becomes increasingly important to comprehend how states make policy decisions and how certain decisions become "locked in." The research conducted to date indicates strong path dependence in states? policy trajectories, so the historical perspective of this research is integral to understanding contemporary welfare policy. Furthermore, as the US becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, understanding how race continues to affect welfare policy aids in ensuring that the welfare state is accessible to all citizens. Finally, the amount of cash assistance is of paramount importance to those who receive welfare, and the real value of welfare benefits has been declining since the 1970s.
