Welfare Reform in the United States

Advanced countries that are experiencing high unemployment are reconsidering their generous welfare states in light of the American experience. This article sets forth a summary of the principles of the U.S. welfare reform -particularly enforcing work requirements by time-limited welfare-as well as the assumptions, including, principally, that welfare destroys work incentives and that jobs are available for those who want to work. In fact, most welfare recipients have extensive connections to the labour market, but cannot survive on either jobs or welfare. If the reforms are carried out as intended, severe hardship will result. The predicted outcome is that most states and localities will avoid draconian effects, but there will continue to be a significant, largely invisible increase in hardship. Low-wage labour market reforms are proposed

Welfare Reform in the United States

Advanced countries that are experiencing high unemployment are reconsidering their generous welfare states in light of the American experience. This article sets forth a summary of the principles of the U.S. welfare reform -particularly enforcing work requirements by time-limited welfare-as well as the assumptions, including, principally, that welfare destroys work incentives and that jobs are available for those who want to work. In fact, most welfare recipients have extensive connections to the labour market, but cannot survive on either jobs or welfare. If the reforms are carried out as intended, severe hardship will result. The predicted outcome is that most states and localities will avoid draconian effects, but there will continue to be a significant, largely invisible increase in hardship. Low-wage labour market reforms are proposed

The Politics of Planning for Urban Redevelopment: Strategies in the Manipulation of Public Law

In this article Professors Plager and Handler examine the influence of legal process upon decision making in municipal redevelopment. Their thesis is that public acceptance of a redevelopment venture depends primarily on the command of political and planning skills and occurs despite rather than because of legal procedures designed to accommodate principles of democracy. Partly through the method of a case study of recent data collected from one municipality, partly by comparative analysis with other studies, they conclude that the reality of decision making in the region they explore is the predominance of informal power over formal, democratic, legal decision-making devices

The Politics of Planning for Urban Redevelopment: Strategies in the Manipulation of Public Law

In this article Professors Plager and Handler examine the influence of legal process upon decision making in municipal redevelopment. Their thesis is that public acceptance of a redevelopment venture depends primarily on the command of political and planning skills and occurs despite rather than because of legal procedures designed to accommodate principles of democracy. Partly through the method of a case study of recent data collected from one municipality, partly by comparative analysis with other studies, they conclude that the reality of decision making in the region they explore is the predominance of informal power over formal, democratic, legal decision-making devices