Does a historical perspective support that criticism?
Neither a historical perspective nor social science research supports it. There’s a large quantity of very competent, high-quality research on these issues and it does not in any way support the claims of critics like Charles Murray that welfare is a major source of the rise in out-of-wedlock births, dependency, and so on. A striking fact is that the rates of out-of-wedlock births and welfare use went up over a 20-year period while benefits dropped by about 40 percent. Q: People aren’t making shrewd calculations and saying, “I’ll go on welfare and make money”? This is a very big country, and I suppose if you look hard enough, you can find people who do that. From what I read in the research, most people dislike having to depend on public assistance. It’s stigmatizing and a very unpleasant way of life for them. Most people can’t live on their AFDC and must have some way of making money and getting some services on the side. These aren’t legal but social workers wink at it because people
