9511090 Blank There has long been substantial interest in the relationship between movements in the macroeconomy and changes in the economic behavior and well-being of low-income populations. In particular, a growing research literature has investigated the relationship between poverty, inequality, and aggregate economic growth. Less studied has been the relationship between economic growth and the use of public assistance programs. Recent trends indicate the value of such research, however. Public assistance caseloads exploded in the early 1990s. While at first this was ascribed to the economic slowdown and the rise in unemployment, the increase in program participation was unduly large relative to the magnitude of unemployment changes, and caseloads did not fall rapidly once unemployment began to decline. his project studies the determinants of public assistance caseloads and benefit expenditures over time, bringing together the literature focusing on individual decisions to participate in public assistance, and the literature that investigates the role of the macroeconomy on poverty and inequality. This project will focus on four primary questions: How are public assistance caseloads and benefit expenditures related to macroeconomic movements and how has this changed over time? How have changing demographics among low-income families affected these trends? 1. How have changes in program eligibility and benefit rules impacted public assistance usage? 2. How do these three factors relate to changes in eligibility versus changes in take-up rates among the eligible?
