SpotlightJennifer Romich Receives Excellence in Research Award
Using longitudinal ethnographic data from 40 families that were collected as part of an evaluation of Milwaukee’s welfare reform efforts, her article examines how low-income workers experience, understand, and respond to an implicit marginal tax rate, which effectively lowers their economic resources. This marginal tax rate results from reduced public assistance benefits and higher income tax obligations as individuals moved from welfare to entry-level work to higher paying jobs. Her research shows that the welfare reforms enacted in the late 1990s contribute to higher marginal tax rates, and thereby diminished families’ opportunities for socioeconomic advancement and control over their lives through work. The award is being presented to Dr. Romich at the Presidential Awards Ceremony at the 2008 SSWR Conference in Washington, DC. |
