View Research by Author - Alberto Martini

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This paper was written in response to a 1997 Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) report on sources of variation across states in use of Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The authors believed that the analysis presented in that report is flawed and were concerned about policy implications that may be drawn from CEA's conclusions. They examine CEA's method and results and discuss problems with those results. An appendix that discusses relevant issues raised by the CEA report is included.

This paper focuses on the challenges inherent in using a microsimulation model to predict program reform effects. It reports simulations of the effect on labor supply of four welfare reforms that affect female heads of households. It also discusses the possibility that some behaviors could change as a direct effect of reform. Included is a discussion of the ongoing debate for use of behavioral responses. Discussed are the trade-offs in including or excluding these responses using the labor supply response to means-tested programs as an example; the methodology used to incorporate a labor supply response in the Transfer Income Model; and four possible reforms to existing means-tested programs.

This report documents the divergence between the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) poverty measures to explain why this divergence arises. It details the SIPP poverty measures for the elderly and for the nonelderly U.S. population, and it discusses the relationship between poverty estimates and the quality of income data reported on the two surveys. The authors focus their comparison on the low end of the income distribution, which is key to understanding the source of differences in poverty rates. Two appendixes: (1) sample sizes and population counts for selected subpopulations and (2) mapping of SIPP and CPS income data to eight income categories are also included.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs sought assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development in the design and implementation of a housing allowance program in Slovakia. This report focuses on specific design issues of a housing allowance and is part of a larger technical assistance effort that included disseminating housing allowance information to policymakers and the public.

This report reviews the relative scarcity of information about how well the overall social assistance program in Poland is working, noting that much of the evaluative information is anecdotal and does not address which types of clients are being served, whether there are major gaps in coverage, and the prevalence of waste and abuse. The author provides a number of suggestions for use by the U.S. Agency for International Development in the area of social assistance that may address these issues and provide a basis for ongoing monitoring of social assistance delivery in Poland.

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