Younghee Lim

The Extended Reach of Minority Political Power: The Interaction of Descriptive Representation, Managerial Networking, and Race

This paper explores the conditions under which descriptive and bureaucratic representation translate into policy outcomes. In particular, it investigates the role of managerial networking in providing a conduit for black political power to influence policy outcomes for black clients. Using administrative data, survey data, and parish-level contextual data on new participants to Louisiana’s welfare to work program from April 2004 through September 2006, results from a logit analysis predicting placement in vocational education indicate that minority clients benefit from black political power and that the effect of black political power is conditioned by whether or not program managers are involved in community networking. All clients, regardless of race, are more likely to receive vocational education when the program manager is black, supporting arguments by proponents of representational bureaucracy.

Material Hardship Among Banked and Unbanked Earned Income Tax Credit-Eligible Families

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has helped millions of Americans escape poverty. However, there is a dearth of research examining the experience of material hardship among EITC recipients. A lack of mainstream banking, disproportionately experienced by the poor, may also be related to increased hardship experiences. This study, using a sample of families receiving the EITC, investigates the hardship differences experienced depending on banking status. Results show that the overwhelming majority of families receiving the EITC experience some type of material hardship. Those with a bank account are less likely to experience material hardship than those without an account. Strategies to decrease hardship experiences and increase use of mainstream banking are drawn for policy makers, banking community, consumer protection and community organizations, and government human service administration.

State TANF Policies and Employment Outcomes among Welfare Leavers

This study examines the extent to which employment outcomes for welfare leavers differ depending on TANF policies adopted by states. Data on welfare leavers come from the 1996 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Policies in the leavers’ states of residence are characterized by factor scores. Results suggest that employment and job quality outcomes for welfare leavers are associated with several aspects of states’ TANF rules. For example, the stringency of work requirements is positively related to employment among later welfare leavers, but neither the leniency nor stringency of work requirements is related to employment among early welfare leavers. Lenient work requirements are found to increase the probability that welfare leavers’ first jobs off welfare carry employer‐provided health insurance.

Payday Loan Use and Consumer Well-Being: What Consumers and Social Workers Need to Know About Payday Loans

Individuals with limited or no access to checking accounts rely on alternative financial services (AFS) to navigate today’s economy. One AFS product that arguably is the most controversial is the payday loan—a small, short-term, high-interest loan. Although potentially assisting financially fragile individuals to fulfill their short-term credit needs, payday loans likely expose them to greater financial vulnerability. Despite the significance of issues related to financially fragile individuals, payday lending is largely understudied in social work. This article describes the payday loan industry, payday loan consumers, the consequences of payday loan use, and implications for social work advocacy.

A Fresh Look at an Old Debate: Assigned Work Activities, Employment, and Post-program Earnings in TANF Work Programs

This study asserts that the type of work activity in which a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participant engages affects the likelihood of employment and post-program earnings. Using a Heckman selection model on administrative data from Louisianas social service office and unemployment insurance wage data (N = 15,816) and controlling for individual and parish characteristics, this study reveals that two work activities, on-the-job training and unsubsidized employment, are associated with an increased probability of employment. Further, unsubsidized employment, on-the-job training, and vocational education are positively associated with earnings, while job search, school attendance, and work experience are negatively associated with earnings.

In Sickness and in Debt: Do Mounting Medical Bills Predict Payday Loan Debt?

Cash-strapped families sometimes turn to small, short-term loans with exorbitant fees—payday loans—to cope with mounting medical bills. Given that about three-fourths of payday loan customers are repeat borrowers, consumer advocates and policymakers have increasingly raised voices of concern about the use of payday loans to finance various household expenses, including, among other things, medical bills. The present study hypothesized that increases in medical debt are associated with increases in payday loan debt among a sample of Chapter 7 bankruptcy filers. The results of a multivariate tobit regression analysis showed that medical debt was associated with increased payday loan debt, controlling for various types of debt and other socioeconomic variables. This article concludes with implications of the results for social work policy- and direct-practice.

Tax Filing and Other Financial Behaviors of EITC-Eligible Households: Differences of Banked and Unbanked.

Holding a bank account is crucial to the income-maximizing and asset-building of households. This study uses 2008 survey data of EITC-eligible households assisted at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites to document their tax filing behavior and use of Alternate Financial Services (AFS). Specifically, the differences in tax filing and AFS use between banked and unbanked EITC-eligible households are examined. Findings reveal that unbanked status is associated with a lower likelihood of receiving a federal tax refund for tax year 2007 (TY 2007), a lower likelihood of filing a federal tax return for the previous tax year (TY 2006), a lower likelihood of receiving tax refunds via direct deposit or cashing at banks, and a higher likelihood of using check cashing stores. Findings suggest that policy changes and educational efforts should continue to focus on bringing the unbanked into the financial mainstream.

Predicting Material Hardship Among Former Welfare-to-Work Participants: An Income- and Resource-Packaging Model

ABSTRACT Material hardship is of concern because it refers to physical deprivation related to meeting the basic needs of food, housing, utilities, and other items. This study tests a predictive income- and resource-packaging model of material hardship using survey data collected from 459 former welfare-to-work program participants. Logistic regression results show that receiving social support in the form of living rent-free decreased the odds for experiencing material hardship. The predictors of working in the informal economy, being sanctioned while on public assistance, having mental health issues, and having transportation problems all increased the odds for experiencing material hardship. The measures of formal employment income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families income, work-first program participation, sharing living expenses, monetary social support, and assistance from nonprofit organizations were unrelated to predicting material hardship experiences. Policymakers interested in improving conditions for needy families should question the use of sanctions and carefully monitor material hardship among those sanctioned. Future programs and future research should consider the extent to which low-income women participate in the informal economy to make ends meet, rely on social networks to live rent-free, and struggle with poor health and transportation problems.

Losing ground: The persistent declining economic fortunes of children

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate trends in the income status of children, as compared to that of adults and elderly people, from 1991 through 2005. Using the March 1992, 1999, and 2006 Current Population Surveys (CPS), this study examines income distributions of children relative to adults and elderly people at three stages: pre-transfer income, pre-transfer income plus social insurance benefits, and pre-transfer income plus social insurance benefits plus welfare payments. While children as well as adults and elderly people lost economic ground at the post-transfer income stage from 1991 to 2005, the losses experienced by children surpassed those of adults and elderly people. This occurred despite the fact that income growth among children was greater than that of adults and elderly people at the pre-transfer stage – a demonstration of increases in employment income of their parents which coincided with the welfare reforms of 1996. This study also found that declines in the distributive effect of both social insurance benefits and welfare payments were greater for minority children. Policy implications are discussed.

Can ‘refundable’ state Earned Income Tax Credits explain child poverty in the American states?

This study estimates the effect of ‘refundable’ state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) on child poverty from 1994 through 2003. Research results indicate that a refundable state EITC is associated with reductions in child poverty, holding all other variables constant. For example, states with refundable state EITCs have observed a 40% greater reduction in child poverty rates compared to states without refundable state EITCs. This study also discusses policy implications for implementing the ‘refundable’ state EITC.