Doctoral Dissertation Research: Bringing Welfare State Theories to the States: How Ideas, Actors, & State Structures Affect Welfare Reform Trajectories in Minnesota and Wiscons

明尼苏达大学双胞胎城市福利州奖学金主要集中在国家政策上。然而，个别州在美国的福利改革和其他政策决策中发挥了关键作用。这项研究考察了明尼苏达州和威斯康星州自1985年以来如何改革福利，同时也考虑了国家政策设置的限制，特别是1996年的福利改革立法，如何影响这些决定。现有的研究表明，这些州本应采取类似且相对慷慨的方式进行福利改革。然而，自1985年以来，威斯康星州一直在实施惩罚性政策，强调立即就业，促进婚姻，并不鼓励未婚生育。相比之下，明尼苏达州制定了相对慷慨的政策，为那些从福利转向工作的人提供就业培训、教育机会和其他资源，尽管它最近朝着更具惩罚性的方向发展。该项目调查了以下问题：为什么两个地理、人口、经济和文化特征相似的州在改革轨迹上存在分歧？这些州的政策最近是如何以及为什么变得更加相似的？在什么情况下，各州会实施慷慨的福利改革，而不是惩罚性的福利改革？国家政策和辩论是如何影响这些州的改革的？为了回答这些问题，这项研究分析了州政府结构、州内政党之间的权力平衡、关键政策制定者，以及立法者和倡导者对福利改革的解释如何影响国家政策决策。该项目依赖于在明尼苏达州和威斯康星州收集的州级数据和公开可用的国家级数据。国家层面的数据包括立法材料、报纸文章以及对参与福利改革的政策制定者和社会倡导者的深入采访。国家级数据包括1996年立法的关键部分和关键的国会辩论。更广泛的影响。该项目具有现实意义，因为国家层面的福利改革影响到贫困父母和孩子的福祉。虽然评估研究直接关注福利改革政策如何影响穷人，但这项研究有助于更全面地了解这些影响是如何产生的以及为什么会产生这些影响。此外，该项目审查的解释反映并促进了关于家庭和育儿、工作、贫困和福利的起因以及个人责任和社会同情心的作用等具有价值的话题的更广泛的公众辩论。

SES-0527035Robin StrykerPamela K. WaldUniversity of Minnesota-Twin CitiesWelfare state scholarship has focused mostly on national policies. Individual states, however, have played key roles in welfare reform and other policy decisions in the U.S. This research examines how Minnesota and Wisconsin have reformed welfare since 1985, while also considering how constraints set by national policy, particularly the 1996 welfare reform legislation, have influenced these decisions. Existing research suggests that these states should have taken similar and relatively generous approaches to welfare reform. Yet, since 1985, Wisconsin has consistently enacted punitive policies that emphasize immediate employment, promote marriage, and discourage out-of-wedlock childbearing. In contrast, Minnesota has enacted relatively generous policies that provide job training, educational opportunities, and other resources to those who move from welfare to work, although it has recently moved in a more punitive direction. This project examines the following questions: Why have two states with similar geographic, demographic, economic, and cultural characteristics diverged in their reform trajectories? How and why have these states' policies recently become more similar? Under what conditions do states enact generous versus punitive welfare reforms? How have national policies and debates shaped reforms in these states? To answer these questions, this research analyzes how state government structure, the balance of power between political parties in the states, key policymakers, and the ways lawmakers and advocates interpret welfare reform affect state policy decisions. This project relies on state-level data collected in Minnesota and Wisconsin and on publicly available national-level data. State-level data include legislative materials, newspaper articles and in-depth interviews with policymakers and societal advocates involved in welfare reform. National level data include key portions of the 1996 legislation and key congressional debates. Broader Impacts. The project has practical significance because state-level welfare reforms affect the well-being of poor parents and children. Whereas evaluation research focuses directly on how welfare reform policies impact poor people, this research helps provide a more complete picture of how and why these impacts are produced. In addition, the interpretations that this project examines reflect and contribute to broader public debates about such value-laden topics as families and parenting, work, the causes of poverty and welfare, and the role of individual responsibility and social compassion.