Evaluating the Differential Effects of Alternative Welfare-to-Work Training Components: A Re-Analysis of the California GAIN Program
Abstract
We show how data from an evaluation in which subjects are randomly assigned to some
treatment versus a control group can be combined with nonexperimental methods to estimate
the differential effects of alternative treatments. We propose tests for the validity
of these methods. We use these methods and tests to analyze the differential effects
of labor force attachment (LFA) versus human capital development (HCD) training components
with data from California’s Greater Avenues to Independence (GAIN) program. While
LFA is more effective than HCD training in the short term, we find that HCD is relatively
more effective in the longer term.
Type
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V. Joseph Hotz
Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Economics
Professor Hotz specializes in the subjects of applied econometrics, labor economics,
economic demography, and economics of the family. His studies have investigated the
impacts of social programs, such as welfare-to-work training; the relationship between
childbearing patterns and labor force participation of U.S. women; the effects of
teenage pregnancy; the child care market; the Earned Income Tax Credit; and other
such subjects. He began conducting his studies in 1977, and has since publishe

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