1996 Reports

The Form of U.S. In-Kind Assistance

O'Flaherty, Brendan Andrew

Child care and housing programs in the U.S. are marked by quality homogeneity, restricted eligibility, rationing, and co-payments that increase as recipients' income rises. Why? I show that these program can best be explained as attempts to reduce the child care or housing "poverty gaps," subject to constraints that require that recipients be treated quite well. Such constraints are justified when the public is really not sure whether the government is acting generously.