Welfare Reform on the Web (October 2003): Social Security - Overseas

WELFARE REFORM'S CHILLING EFFECTS ON NONCITIZENS: CHANGES IN NON-CITIZEN WELFARE RECIPIENCY OR SHIFTS IN CITIZENSHIP STATUS?

J. van Hook

Social Science Quarterly, vol.84, 2003, p.613-631

Some policy analysts have argued that the 1996 Welfare Reform Act led to a disproportionate decline in welfare use by noncitizens in the USA. Author uses an analysis of longitudinal data to show that a substantial portion of the relative decline in welfare usage by noncitizens can be explained by an increase in naturalisation.