Means-Tested Programs

Means-tested programs limit eligibility to individuals and families whose incomes and or assets fall below a pre-determined threshold (means test). They are generally financed by tax revenues and may take the form of entitlements (e.g., Medicaid, SNAP/Food Stamps) or have spending caps (e.g., State Child Health Insurance Program, housing subsidies, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families).

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Many Rural Americans Are Still “Left Behind”

  • Fast Focus Policy Brief
  • January 2020
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Understanding benefit cliffs and marginal tax rates

  • Fast Focus Policy Brief
  • September 2019
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Policy approaches to reducing poverty and deep poverty among children

  • Hilary Hoynes, Robert Moffitt, and Timothy Smeeding
  • Focus on Poverty & Classroom Supplement
  • September 2019
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Cutting the Child Poverty Rate by Half: A Report from the National Academies

  • Hilary Hoynes and Robert Moffitt
  • Webinar
  • May 15 2019
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Barriers to public service delivery and receipt

  • Fast Focus Policy Brief
  • March 2019
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Moving into and out of rural poverty

  • José D. Pacas and Elizabeth E. Davis
  • Focus on Poverty & Classroom Supplement
  • December 2018
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Rural-urban disparity in poverty persistence

  • Iryna Kyzyma
  • Focus on Poverty & Classroom Supplement
  • December 2018
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Child poverty in rural America

  • David Rothwell and Brian C. Thiede
  • Focus on Poverty & Classroom Supplement
  • December 2018
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Work Requirements in the Safety Net and the Challenges of Implementation

  • Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach and Ron Haskins
  • Webinar
  • October 31 2018
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Fifty years after The People Left Behind: The unfinished challenge of reducing rural poverty

  • Bruce Weber
  • Focus on Poverty & Classroom Supplement
  • October 2018