Watching the Clocks
利用1996-2003年南卡罗来纳州的行政数据，分析TANF项目的两年福利时间限制和食品券项目的资格确认期限变化对参与率的影响，发现时间限制降低了TANF参与人数，而更长的确认间隔则增加了食品券参与人数。
Abstract We use administrative data to examine how “clock” policies—program time limits and recurring deadlines for confirming eligibility—affected participation in South Carolina’s TANF and Food Stamp Programs from 1996–2003. South Carolina’s TANF program limits most families to two years of benefits in any ten-year period; so, recipients began exhausting their eligibility as early as 1998. The state’s Food Stamp Program sets regular recertification intervals that can be distinguished from other calendar effects and increased these intervals after October 2002. We find that the two-year time limit reduced TANF caseloads and that the longer recertification intervals increased food stamp caseloads.