Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) has had a devastating effect on those recipients in the pursuit of postsecondary education. The new, federally imposed, work-first, welfare policies have posed barriers in human capital development and pushed recipients into low-level, low-paying jobs. Under the act, states were given a great deal of autonomy in pioneering policies that create a pathway to self-sufficiency. This research seeks to better understand the conditions under which states choose to pursue policies that support human capital development model rather than the punitive, work-first, TANF policy. First, this article summarizes the different explanations for variation in work-first policies across all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Then, an empirical analysis is performed to determine what explanatory variables are significant in predicting less punitive work-first policies in the immediate years following the reform. The results suggest that there is a positive relationship between the size of a state’s white population and more generous welfare-to-work policies. Additionally, a relationship between public opinion and welfare-to-work policies emerged. Anti-welfare attitudes are negatively associated with more generous policies.