Welfare Reform .Welfare reform under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act is generally regarded as a great success. A closer review of the research, however, reveals that the celebration of welfare reform has been premature. While moderately successful in reducing the disincentive to leave welfare, welfare reform has been largely unsuccessful in moving long-term unemployed, difficult-to-place individuals off cash assistance. Overall, the new welfare law is a second-best solution to welfare dependence. Until policymakers take a preventive approach and make welfare no longer available to, or an attractive option for, women considering making untenable life choices, the US will continue to spend endless taxpayer dollars trying to clean up its dependence problem. "Four Years of Welfare Reform: A Progress Report", by Lisa Oliphant is published by the Cato Institute.

By Cato Institute,US.

Welfare and Social Security Policy Resource.