Jamie Lee ’06 (right) majored in economics and history and is an analyst at Cornerstone Research, in Boston.
“Did It Work? A Look at the Effects of Welfare Reform Nearly a Decade Later”
Richard A. McGowan, SJ, adjunct associate professor, operations and strategic management
“Jamie’s thesis analyzed the Clinton administration’s welfare reforms and the six major effects that reform had on the welfare system: work requirements, sanctions, exemptions from work requirements, financial incentives, time limits, and family caps. Jamie showed that the number of welfare recipients did go down and that the sanctions and time limits worked. But he also demonstrated that the number of people below the poverty level did not decrease, so that the results of his analysis give a mixed and nuanced portrait of what welfare reform actually achieved. Jamie received an award for his research from the American Academy of Political and Social Science.”