We examine whether social science research can influence state legislation and elaborate on why social scientists may sometimes fail to have an impact. To begin, we construct a simple model of the policy process in which social scientists supply research to legislators, which they then use to fashion bills into law. Next, we discuss the risks that may prevent achievement of this depiction and how legislators, other policy groups, and social scientists themselves may act to compromise the process. Afterward, we offer actions that may enhance the chances that research will be used by legislators.

This article examines receipt rates of Minnesota's earned income credit program by households on welfare from 1992 through 1999. We examine urban and rural differences in the rate of receipt throughout time and in the factors contributing to receipt. Our tabulations show that the central counties of the Minneapolis—St. Paul standard metropolitan statistical area (SMSA) have the lowest receipt rates, although rates are increasing for all regions and the disparities are diminishing through time. We find that a number of policy variables, household characteristics, and local labor market variables differentially affect receipt probabilities. Information from this research might help policy makers and designers of low-income programs construct improved policies that help families more quickly exit poverty.

This article examines differences between rural and urban counties in the duration of welfare spells. We report evidence that suggests that parents from farming-dependent counties and rural counties are more likely to have shorter spells on welfare. The evidence appears consistent with the literature on rural low-income families in that there may be a concentration of low-wage jobs in rural counties. The difference between rural and urban areas is relevant to welfare policy as it pertains to caseload numbers, parents more likely to reach the sixty-month time limit, and parents more likely to trigger time-based policies, such as employment search. The study uses administrative data of Aid to Families With Dependent Children recipients from the state of Minnesota between 1986 and 1996. The methodology includes constructing descriptive statistics, calculating Kaplan-Meier estimates, and performing a Cox regression analysis with robustness checks across all three methods. Copyright 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd..

Examining the effects of four economic development subsidiesfactor tax deductions on capital and labor and subsidies for research and development and labor training-we find that subsidies to the traded servicesproducing sector can raise aggregate real income and lower income inequality in comparison to the same subsidies to the manufacturing sectors. The analysis is conducted with a computable general equilibrium model of a state economy. The model is a specific factor model with 21 different industries and 18 different occupations.

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