Josh McCabe Profile picture
Family Economic Security at @NiskanenCenter | Sociologist | Always on the lookout for a worthwhile Canadian initiative
Aug 24, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
There is some truth to this depending on programs and family scenario. Here's a quick back of the envelope calculation for some Massachusetts programs with one unemployed parent and one min wage working parent.

SNAP penalizes marriage but tax credits give marriage bonus here.
Image In the case of two minimum wage workers in the same scenario though, SNAP, federal EITC, and state EITC create marriage penalties, which results in overall marriage penalties. Image
Sep 28, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
In 2019, less than 1 in 1,000 residents were unhoused in Alabama and Mississippi, while California and Oregon had over five times that rate.” ucpress.edu/book/978052038… “The metropolitan areas of New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Fran- cisco, Seattle, and Boston alone account for over 29 percent of the homeless population in the country, despite being home to only about 7 percent of the general population.”
Jun 21, 2022 14 tweets 4 min read
This is a fantastic paper bringing a much needed comparative perspective to the literature on income-testing and take up rates.

US-centric approaches often compare real American policies to imagined policies in other countries, finding the US falls short but... "The countries in Europe have a reputation of greater universality (at least in spirit) of social programs than in the U.S., as well as greater social inclusion, but their problems of low take-up seem to be equally widespread and, in fact, lower than those in some U.S. programs."
Jul 9, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
The reason I'll never understand why some anti-poverty advocates insist on referring to all social assistance as "welfare" in one chart. These are long-term trends.
Feb 18, 2021 7 tweets 3 min read
The discussion of potential effects of Bennet-Brown AFA and Romney FSA family allowance proposals has been pretty heavy on the economics literature so far. It got me thinking about what sociology literature might be worth considering as well. A reading list thread: Early work in around the time of 1990s welfare reform includes:
Edin and Lein (1997) Making Ends Meet How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work: russellsage.org/publications/m…
Newman (2000) No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/121126/n…
Aug 22, 2018 5 tweets 2 min read
I'm so tired of these "SALT deduction cap as war against blue state" claims. They are 100% without merit. Let's break down the three main reasons why the cap effects some state more than others using examples cited here. Thread. bloomberg.com/news/articles/… 1) NY and CA residents have much higher incomes than MS and WV residents. Here's GSP per capita. NY and CA are two of the richest states in the country. MS and WV are the two poorest states. Unless you think the rich should pay less than the poor, the SALT deduction is bad.