Strengthening the Safety Net to Mitigate the Effect of Future Recessions

May 10, 2016

On Monday, May 23, 2016, RSF president Sheldon Danziger and several RSF grantees and scholars will participate in a policy forum on strengthening the social safety net, hosted by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. The event will focus on three new papers released by the Hamilton Project that explore the effects of the 2008 fiscal stimulus designed to combat the Great Recession. Forum participants will discuss whether the stimulus contained the correct mix of tax cuts and targeted government spending, and whether it optimally utilized income support programs—notably TANF and SNAP—to stabilize the economy and protect millions of households from falling into poverty.

The first panel in the forum will discuss a proposal to strengthen the safety net through improvements to SNAP by RSF Visiting Scholar James P. Ziliak (University of Kentucky), and a proposal to make TANF more effective in serving needy families during economic downturns by incoming RSF Visiting Scholar Hilary Hoynes (UC Berkeley) and Marianne Bitler (UC Davis). RSF president Sheldon Danziger will speak on the panel along with Congressman Jim McGovern (Massachusetts) and Robert Greenstein (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). The discussion will be moderated by RSF grantee Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (Hamilton Project).

The second panel will focus on a new proposal by RSF author and former trustee Alan S. Blinder (Princeton University) that examines how to better leverage fiscal policy to mitigate the effects of future recessions. Blinder will be joined by panelists Cecilia Muñoz (White House Domestic Policy Council), Marc H. Morial (National Urban League), Alice M. Rivlin (Brookings Institution), and moderator Roger C. Altman (Evercore).

The policy forum is free and open to the public. Click here to register for the event.

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