American Presidents: From the War on Poverty to Welfare Reform and Beyond

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of policies and programs implemented by U.S. Presidents since 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty. The primary objective of this paper is to better understand why some federal policies and programs which were designed to reduce poverty were successful while others failed. A better understanding of policies and programs which led to sustained reductions in poverty rates could have significant structural implications for future local, state and federal policy and program initiatives. These lessons could also help improve the economic development models used by policy makers, at all levels, to address poverty and adverse social conditions throughout the United States.

Keywords: American Presidents, Poverty, economic development, LBJ, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, welfare reform, EITC, economic opportunity, human capital theory, social exchange theory, dependency theory, war on poverty, labor force participation, education attainment

JEL Classification: A10, D60, H30, H50, I20, I30, I38, J18, J60, N30