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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Economic Policy

University of Massachusetts Boston

Series

Poverty

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Most Common Bundles Of Public Assistance Benefits For Low-Income Massachusetts Families: A Technical Research Brief, Caitlin A. Carey Jul 2018

Most Common Bundles Of Public Assistance Benefits For Low-Income Massachusetts Families: A Technical Research Brief, Caitlin A. Carey

Center for Social Policy Publications

This report analyzes the most common bundles of public assistance benefits for low-income residents of Massachusetts. The findings can be used to better understand the relative success of these public assistance programs at reaching low-income target populations. Furthermore, the combination of benefits received can help provide insights regarding where families might experience cliff effects; data that can be used to inform policy changes to help ameliorate cliff effects.


Economic Writing On The Pressing Problems Of The Day: The Roles Of Moral Intuition And Methodological Confusion, Julie A. Nelson Dec 2010

Economic Writing On The Pressing Problems Of The Day: The Roles Of Moral Intuition And Methodological Confusion, Julie A. Nelson

Economics Faculty Publication Series

Economists are often called on to help address pressing problems of the day, yet many economists are uncomfortable about disclosing the values that they bring to this work. This essay explores how an inadequate understanding of the role of methodology, as related to ethics and human emotions of concern, underlies this reluctance and compromises the quality of economic advice. The tension between caring about the problems, on the one hand, and writing within the existing culture of the discipline, on the other, are illustrated with examples from U.S. policymaking, behavioral economics, and the economics of climate change and global poverty. …


Left Behind: The Persistence Of Poverty Through The 1990s, Randy Albelda, Donna H. Friedman Oct 2001

Left Behind: The Persistence Of Poverty Through The 1990s, Randy Albelda, Donna H. Friedman

Economics Faculty Publication Series

The Commonwealth’s economic growth over the past decade has led to more jobs and an increasing median income, but the rising tide has not lifted the boats at the bottom. The bottom 20 percent of the Commonwealth’s families with children have not found relief. Growth in earnings has been almost completely offset by the loss of public support, which in turn has strained the private sector’s emergency support system. Poverty rates for families have dropped only slightly, child poverty rates and the percentage of families who are very poor have increased, and the need for emergency housing and food services …