Setting the Terms of Relief: Explaining State Policy Choices in the Devolution Revolution Author(S): Joe Soss, Sanford F
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Setting the Terms of Relief: Explaining State Policy Choices in the Devolution Revolution Author(s): Joe Soss, Sanford F. Schram, Thomas P. Vartanian and Erin O'Brien Source: American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Apr., 2001), pp. 378-395 Published by: Midwest Political Science Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2669347 . Accessed: 08/10/2013 20:46 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Midwest Political Science Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Journal of Political Science. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 146.95.253.17 on Tue, 8 Oct 2013 20:46:24 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Settingthe Terms of Relief: Explaining State Policy Choicesin the Devolution Revolution JoeSoss AmericanUniversity SanfordF. Schram BrynMawr College Thomas P. Vartanian BrynMawr College ErinO'Brien AmericanUniversity The landmarkwelfare legislation of n 1996, the federalgovernment passed legislationthat transformed 1996 offersstudents of politicsa publicassistance provision in theUnited States. The PersonalRespon- unique opportunityto pinpointthe sibilityand WorkOpportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) determinantsof state-levelpolicy abolishedthe federal entitlement to aid thatgrew out of theSocial Security choices-a case in whichthe fifty Actof 1935 and reachedfruition through legal victories in the 1960s(Mink states responded virtuallysimulta- 1998; Lurie 1997). In its place,the federalgovernment created Temporary neouslyto a single policy mandate. Assistancefor Needy Families (TANF), a systemof block grantsthat gives Takingadvantage of thisopportunity, statesmore freedom to selectamong policy tools but also imposesa force- we investigatethe factorsthat led ful mandate to promote work,reduce welfareusage, and change poor states to make restrictivepolicy people'sbehaviors (Albelda and Tilly1997). choices after1996 and use this In this article,we presenta political analysisof the ways statesre- analysis to evaluate general-theories sponded to thisnew policyenvironment. Specifically, we investigatethe of welfarepolitics. Specifically, we factorsthat shaped state-levelpolicy choices after 1996 and use thisanaly- test six types of explanationsfor why sis as a basis for evaluating general explanations for welfarepolicy some states responded by adopting outcomes.Our studybuilds on a long traditionof quantitativeresearch 'get-tough"program rules: theories thathas attemptedto illuminatestate-level politics by askingwhy states thatidentify welfare policy as a site of adopt differentwelfare policies (Howard 1999; Rom 1999; Brace and ideological conflict,as an outcome of Jewitt1995; Petersonand Rom 1990; Plotnickand Winters1985). The electoral politics,as a domain of analysispresented here, however, departs from prior work in two impor- policyinnovation, as an instrumentof tantrespects. social control,as an outletfor racial First,most state-level research has soughtto explaininterstate differ- resentments,and as an expression of ences in benefitlevels and spendingpatterns (Howard 1999, 424-425; moralvalues. The resultsof our or- dered and binarylogit models sug- gest thatstate policies have been shaped by a varietyof social and JoeSoss is AssociateProfessor of Government,American University, 4400 Massachu- politicalforces, but especially by the settsAve., NW, Washington, D.C. 20016-8130([email protected]). Sanford F. Schram racial compositionof familieswho rely is VisitingProfessor of Social Workand Social Research,Bryn Mawr College,300 AirdaleRd., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-1697([email protected]). Thomas Vartanian on programbenefits. is AssociateProfessor of Social Workand Social Research,Bryn Mawr College,300 AirdaleRd., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-1697([email protected]). Erin O'Brien is a Ph.D. candidatein theDepartment of Government, American University, 4400 Massa- chusettsAve., NW, Washington, D.C. 20016-8130([email protected]). We wouldlike to extendour thanksto RobertAlbritton, Jim Baumohl, Nathan Dietz, RichardFording, Heather Girvin, Gary Krueger, Claudia Krugovoy, Julia Littell, Justine McNamara,Frances Fox Piven, Ellen Szabo, Greg Caldeira, and theanonymous review- ersfor suggestions that helped us improveon earlierversions of thisarticle. We also thankGary King, Michael Tomz, and JasonWittenberg for technical help regarding theirClarify program and RobertLieberman and GregShaw for sharing their data. AmericanJournal of Political Science, Vol. 45, No. 2,April 2001, Pp. 378-395 ?2001 bythe Midwest Political Science Association 378 This content downloaded from 146.95.253.17 on Tue, 8 Oct 2013 20:46:24 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SETTING THE TERMS OF RELIEF 379 Petersonand Rom 1990).1By contrast,we analyzevaria- WelfarePolicymaking: tion in the institutionalform of welfareprovision-the A NewDivision of Labor rules and penalties that condition access to resources and structurethe treatmentcitizens receive in govern- Whenthe federal government abolished the Aid to Fami- mentprograms. In the 1990s,public officialsshowed re- lies withDependent Children (AFDC) programin 1996, newedinterest in using programrules as toolsto modify it removed a frameworkof rules that had structured poor people's behaviors (Mead 1997). The federalgov- state-leveladministration of cash aid since the 1960s. ernment's1996 law such aid emphasized requirements, Withits new systemof block grants,the 1996 law ended and as states responded to this directive,their policy the federalguarantee of matchingfunds and allowed changes focused less on the amounts of reliefoffered statesto pursue a wider varietyof policy innovations thanon the termson whichaid is given(Schram 1999). withoutseeking waivers from the federalgovernment. Indeed, preliminary evidence suggeststhat states have Proponentstouted the new TANF systemas a "devolu- differedmarkedly in the policies they have adopted tion revolution"that would liberatethe statesfrom sti- (Mettler2000) and thatthese policy choices have been a flingfederal rules and allowthem to createmore effective majorfactor driving interstate differences in caseload re- povertypolicies. Such claimscontain a grainof truthre- duction(Rector and Youssef1999). gardingshifts in theintergovernmental division of labor, Second,most prior research has been unableto com- but they also conveythe misleading impressionthat parepolicy choices made a time un- during single period statesnow enjoyan unprecedenteddegree of liberty. der roughlysimilar conditions. Most cross-sectional In theAmerican political system defined by federal- for to variationin wel- studies, example,appear analyze ism,localism, and a relativelyweak and fragmentedna- faregrants for a single butthe choicesthat set year, policy tionalgovernment, state-level politics has alwaysplayed a thegrants for any given year were actually made at differ- keyrole in shapingthe amount and formof public aid for ent timesin differentstates. As a result,the analysisin- thepoor (Trattner1999; Noble 1997; Skocpol 1996). Be- a in cludes greatdeal of unobservedvariation thepoliti- ginningin 1911 withmothers' pensions and later,after cal forces on statesas acted to set their impinging they 1935,in the Aid to DependentChildren program, state grantlevels. In addition, historical raise such lags doubts administrationand interstatevariation were defining fea- about how well indicatorsfor a of ac- givenyear analysis turesof public aid forpoor families(Gordon 1994). In the in the tuallymeasure the conditionsthat existed year wake of insurgentactivism and legal victoriesin the grant levels were established.Our addresses analysis 1960s,the federalgovernment applied a broad set of na- theseproblems by of the cir- takingadvantage unique tionalstandards to state-leveladministrators (Davis 1993; cumstances welfare of 1996. surroundingthe legislation Melnick1994). Interstatevariation, however, remained a Here,we have a case in which states the fifty responded signal characteristicof the AFDC programthat distin- virtually to a mandate. simultaneously single policy guishedit fromthe nationalsystem of social insurance From an analyticstandpoint, it is hard to imagine a coveragein theUnited States (Peterson and Rom 1990). strongeropportunity to the determinantsof pinpoint Withthe passage of PRWORAin 1996,states gained state-level choices.To researchershave policy date, pro- more authorityover eligibility rules and administrative duced some good case studies(Francis 1999) and efforts procedures than they had enjoyed for three decades to classifystate policies but therehave (Mettler2000), (Mettler2000). At the same time,however, the federal been fewsystematic analyses of whystates responded to law also imposed a varietyof new mandatesthat con- thefederal mandate in different ways. strainedthe policyoptions available to statelawmakers In sum,this study presents an empiricalassessment and bureaucrats(Kincaid 1998). For example,the federal of theories to welfare choices purporting explain policy governmentset strictquotas on the percentageof