This is an attempt to frame the policy debate for reauthorization and to inform the policy discussion among the states and at the federal level, especially by drawing lessons from research on the effects of welfare reform.

In the great tradition of moral argument about the nature of the economic market, Rebecca Blank and William McGurn join to debate fundamental questions - equality and efficiency, productivity and social justice, individual achievement and personal rights in the workplace, the costs and benefits of corporate and entrepreneurial capitalism. And they do so grounded in both economic sophistication and religious commitment.

Rebecca M. Blank offers the first comprehensive analysis of an economic trend that has been reshaping the United States over the past three decades: rapidly rising income inequality. In clear language, she provides an overview of how and why the level and distribution of income and wealth has changed since 1979, sets this situation within its historical context, and investigates the forces that are driving it. Among other factors, Blank looks closely at changes within families, including women s increasing participation in the work force. The book includes some surprising findingsfor example,...