Econ 450/550 – Assignment 7: Income distribution & welfare programs [20 points]
[4 points] U.S. income distribution
1. (1 point) Over the last 100 years, which decade (e.g. 1910’s, 1940’s, 2010’s, etc.) had the lowest share of national income going to the top 10% of adults? ____________________
2. (1 point) TRUE/FALSE (circle one): It is harder to move from the bottom fifth of the U.S. income distribution to the top fifth of the U.S. income distribution in Washington D.C. than Atlanta, GA.
3. (1 point) In class we noticed that pre-tax income for the bottom 90% of earners in the U.S. has grown 30% from 1962-2014. The pre-tax income for the bottom 50% of earners has grown ______% from 1962-2014, and for the average earner has grown ______% from 1962-2014.
4. (1 point) What does the information in problem 3 imply about the growth rate of pre-tax income for the top 10% of earners in the U.S.? How does it relate to the average earner? _____________
[16 points] Welfare programs
5. (1 point for each part) For each of the following welfare programs, indicate the following information (you may need to search for some of this information online yourself):
i) Purpose of the program;
ii) how is someone eligible for the program (i.e. is it categorical and/or means tested, and in what way)?;
iii) is the program a cash or in-kind welfare program? If it’s in-kind, what is the good provided?;
iv) the most recent total expenditure for the program (indicate year – +0.5 extra credit points for more recent year than in slides – must provide source, and source must be “scholarly,” i.e. if online must be .gov, .org, or .edu)?
a. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
i. ________________________________________________________________________.
ii. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________.
iii. CASH/IN-KIND (circle one) welfare program. If in-kind, what is the good or service provided? If cash, write “N/A.” ______________________________________________.
iv. ________________________________________________________________________.
b. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
i. ________________________________________________________________________.
ii. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________.
iii. CASH/IN-KIND (circle one) welfare program. If in-kind, what is the good or service provided? If cash, write “N/A.” ______________________________________________.
iv. ________________________________________________________________________.
c. Medicaid
i. ________________________________________________________________________.
ii. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________.
iii. CASH/IN-KIND (circle one) welfare program. If in-kind, what is the good or service provided? If cash, write “N/A.” ______________________________________________.
iv. ________________________________________________________________________.
d. Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
i. ________________________________________________________________________.
ii. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________.
iii. CASH/IN-KIND (circle one) welfare program. If in-kind, what is the good or service provided? If cash, write “N/A.” ______________________________________________.
iv. ________________________________________________________________________.
