Do Federal Social Programs Work?
Addressing an issue of burning interest to every taxpayer, a Heritage Foundation scholar brings objective analysis to bear as he responds to the important—and provocative—question posed by his book's title.

Of course, the answer to that question will also help determine whether the American public should fear budget cuts to federal social programs. Readers, says author David B. Muhlhausen, can rest easy. As his book decisively demonstrates, scientifically rigorous national studies almost unanimously find that the federal government fails to solve social problems. To prove his point, Muhlhausen reports on large-scale evaluations of social programs for children, families, and workers, some advocated by Democrats, some by Republicans. But it isn't just the results that matter. It's the lesson to readers on how Americans can—and should—accurately assess government programs that cost hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

At the book's core is an insistence that we move beyond anecdotal reasoning and often-partisan opinion to measure the effectiveness of social programs using objective analysis and scientific methods. At the very least, the results of such analysis will, like this book, provide a sound basis for much-needed public debate.
1112796310
Do Federal Social Programs Work?
Addressing an issue of burning interest to every taxpayer, a Heritage Foundation scholar brings objective analysis to bear as he responds to the important—and provocative—question posed by his book's title.

Of course, the answer to that question will also help determine whether the American public should fear budget cuts to federal social programs. Readers, says author David B. Muhlhausen, can rest easy. As his book decisively demonstrates, scientifically rigorous national studies almost unanimously find that the federal government fails to solve social problems. To prove his point, Muhlhausen reports on large-scale evaluations of social programs for children, families, and workers, some advocated by Democrats, some by Republicans. But it isn't just the results that matter. It's the lesson to readers on how Americans can—and should—accurately assess government programs that cost hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

At the book's core is an insistence that we move beyond anecdotal reasoning and often-partisan opinion to measure the effectiveness of social programs using objective analysis and scientific methods. At the very least, the results of such analysis will, like this book, provide a sound basis for much-needed public debate.
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Do Federal Social Programs Work?

Do Federal Social Programs Work?

by David B. Muhlhausen
Do Federal Social Programs Work?

Do Federal Social Programs Work?

by David B. Muhlhausen

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Overview

Addressing an issue of burning interest to every taxpayer, a Heritage Foundation scholar brings objective analysis to bear as he responds to the important—and provocative—question posed by his book's title.

Of course, the answer to that question will also help determine whether the American public should fear budget cuts to federal social programs. Readers, says author David B. Muhlhausen, can rest easy. As his book decisively demonstrates, scientifically rigorous national studies almost unanimously find that the federal government fails to solve social problems. To prove his point, Muhlhausen reports on large-scale evaluations of social programs for children, families, and workers, some advocated by Democrats, some by Republicans. But it isn't just the results that matter. It's the lesson to readers on how Americans can—and should—accurately assess government programs that cost hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

At the book's core is an insistence that we move beyond anecdotal reasoning and often-partisan opinion to measure the effectiveness of social programs using objective analysis and scientific methods. At the very least, the results of such analysis will, like this book, provide a sound basis for much-needed public debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9798216075578
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date: 04/09/2013
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 416
File size: 897 KB
Age Range: 7 - 17 Years

About the Author

David B. Muhlhausen, PhD, is Research Fellow in Empirical Policy Analysis at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington, DC.
David B. Muhlhausen, PhD, is Research Fellow in Empirical Policy Analysis at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington, DC.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Budget Crisis
3. Assessing Effectiveness: The Problem of Selection
4. Children and Families
5. Workers
6. The Way Forward
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Charles Murray

"David Muhlhausen has brought together the results of the most important evaluations of federal social programs, laid out those results in full technical detail, and thereby done me and every other student of social policy an invaluable service. Anyone who wants to dispute his conclusion that federal social programs have failed must confront the evidence he presents—and that evidence is overwhelming."

George F. Will

"In 1984, Charles Murray's Losing Ground awakened social scientists and policymakers to the fact that many government programs were not performing, and to the need for rigorous metrics of success and failure. Now comes David B. Muhlhausen with a book that advances that project by presenting an avalanche of inconvenient evidence."

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