The Form of U.S. In-Kind Assistance

Abstract

Child care and housing programs in the United States are marked by quality homogeneity, restricted eligibility, rationing, and copayments that increase as recipients' income rises. Why? I show that these programs 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.

JEL Classification: H50