Currie J M
University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
Future Child. 1997 Summer-Fall;7(2):113-31.
Many public programs serve poor children. By setting budgets, benefit levels, and program rules, policymakers decide how many children will receive benefits and which benefits they will receive. Making these choices in a rational way is difficult, given the noncomparability of different types of program benefits and the limited information available about the effects these programs have on poor children. This article suggests four criteria (efficiency, return on investment, incentives, and equity) for evaluating and comparing public programs for poor children, and provides an overview of the patchwork of information that is currently available about the effects of eight large federal programs using these criteria. Some broad themes emerge. First, several programs that target specific benefits directly to children have been shown to have positive effects on a range of outcomes. Second, even before the current round of welfare reform, the mix of federal support available to poor children had changed in a way that put more emphasis on providing benefits in kind. Finally, more must be learned about the effects of programs for poor children before sweeping policy recommendations can be made. This article concludes with policy recommendations that can be supported by the available evidence.
许多公共项目为贫困儿童提供服务。政策制定者通过设定预算、福利水平和项目规则，来决定有多少儿童将获得福利以及他们将获得哪些福利。鉴于不同类型的项目福利不可比，且关于这些项目对贫困儿童影响的可用信息有限，要以合理的方式做出这些选择并非易事。本文提出了评估和比较针对贫困儿童的公共项目的四个标准（效率、投资回报率、激励措施和公平性），并概述了目前可获取的有关八个大型联邦项目影响的零散信息，这些信息是基于上述标准的。一些广泛的主题浮现出来。首先，一些直接针对儿童提供特定福利的项目已被证明对一系列结果产生了积极影响。其次，甚至在当前这一轮福利改革之前，向贫困儿童提供的联邦支持组合就已发生变化，更加注重提供实物福利。最后，在能够提出全面的政策建议之前，必须更多地了解针对贫困儿童项目的影响。本文最后提出了现有证据能够支持的政策建议。
