The dynamics of New York State welfare finance at the county level: A feedback view of system behavior

The 1996 welfare reform pushes states re-think their own welfare programs. One of the important tasks for states recently is to examine the past resource allocation policies and to explore the factors preventing these policies from meeting their pre-set goals. In order to help state welfare decision makers to approach the 1996 welfare reform challenge and to understand the welfare system as a whole, this study tries to explore the unexpected effects that offset the intended impacts of several welfare fiscal policies from a system dynamics point of view.; This study builds on the tradition of studying the feedback mechanisms that generate unintended policy outcomes with the aim of improving policy innovations in public policy systems. A highly aggregated system dynamics model is presented for the purposes of understanding implied feedback mechanisms underlying the welfare reform financing. The model in this research elucidates feedback mechanisms where fiscal policies that were intended to achieve goals related to administrative rules or controls touch off unforeseen consequences. This research examines the dynamic impacts and consequences of various fiscal policies by analyzing the interactions among major welfare actors. This analysis may provide information regarding the factors causing past financial policies' failure to control the welfare expenditures. This thesis argues that past policies are piecemeal and fragmented because they lack insight into the feedback structure of this system.