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Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 145

predicament is tied to the increase of single-parent families.
References (However, 40% of poor families in this country contain both
a mother and father.) Most poverty spells begin because of
Leads, D. (1956), "Confusion and Consumer Psychology," The
changes in family income through job loss, but more than
Trademark Reporter, 46 (1), 1-7.
half of poor adults work at least part-time. Furthermore, the
Simonson, A. (1993), "How and When Do Trademarks Dilute: A vast majority of the poor live outside ghettos in major cities;
Behavioral Framework to Judge 'Likelihood' of Dilution," The
they are more likely to reside in mixed-income neighbor-
Trademark Reporter, 83 (2), 149-74.
hoods, suburban areas, or rural communities.
ALEX SIMONSON Chapter 2 provides a discussion of the recent economic
School of Business changes that have affected lower socioeconomic groups
Georgetown University adversely in our society. Most important, the economic
expansions of the 1980s and 1990s have failed to benefit
less-skilled workers in poor families, which has resulted in
falling wages for equivalent or greater work effort. Blank
It Takes a Nation: A New Agenda for notes.
Fighting Poverty Among the least-skilled men, wages have fallen more than 20
percent in the past fifteen years. Fringe benefits and career
by Rebecca M. Blank (Princeton, NJ: Princeton opportunities have become more limited. Among the least-
University Press, 1997, 340 pages, $29.95) skilled women, wages have fallen slightly but remain far below
those of their male counterparts (p. 60).
In 1994, the House Republicans put forth their Contract As a result, some poor families are forced to enhance their
With America, which proposed legislation that included financial positions through involvement in the underground
major reform of the nation's welfare system (see Gillespie economy, but these activities rarely are sufficient to move
and Schellhas 1994). Consistent with many previous reform them out of poverty.
movements, it was based on the principle of less eligibility Chapter 3 explores the policy dynamics that have affected
and suggested that the poor are worthy of only minimal sup- recent welfare reform. For example. Blank accurately fore-
port (Hill, Hirschman, and Bauman 1996). The result of this casts that new programs will be targeted toward particular
legislative round is the Personal Responsibility and Work groups among the poor who engage in culturally sanctioned
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (HR 3734), which behaviors, such as job searches and training, and will move
promises to restrict further the consumer options of indigent away from cash assistance programs as entitlements. How-
families (Hill and Stephens 1997). ever, she also foresees major problems with this approach
Although there has been a wide variety of editorials, arti- because behavioral mandates are more expensive to facili-
cles, and books written in response to this legislative activ- tate (due to additional costs associated with training, place-
ity, one publication stands out as worthy of praise. Using a ment, child care, and so on) and require significantly more
lengthy analysis of existing studies on welfare policies and administrative personnel to monitor. In the end. Blank
families as a basis, Rebecca Blank, an economist at North- believes that the relatively more expensive in-kind assis-
western University, provides the most accurate and system- tance to support housing, medical insurance, and the provi-
atic appraisal of who make up the poor, why they are poor, sion of food will receive greater political support than cash
and how the welfare system has affected their lives prior to assistance, which will limit severely the potential savings
this most recent reform cycle. Her book closes with a review from reform.
of the current policy movement toward more targeted pro- Chapter 4 addresses the hotly debated question among
grams and with humane solutions that make sense and con- welfare reformers: "What do antipoverty programs do?" In
sider the consumption needs of the poor. answer to this question. Blank asserts that welfare assistance
This volume opens with an introduction to poverty and programs have accomplished their primary goals:
welfare reform that is summarized in three lessons that are
the basis for the first five chapters of the book. In the first food assistance has improved nutrition among the poor, health
lesson, readers learn that the public perception of the poor, insurance has increased access to medical care, job training pro-
as predominantly urban people of color who typically are grams for single mothers increase their labor market involve-
viewed as alien or "other," is inaccurate. Lesson Two notes ment, and cash transfers seem generally to provide more cash
income to families
than they
would obtain otherwi.se (p. 133).
that the central cause of poverty in this country is the declin-
ing wage rates for jobs of less-skilled workers, rather than She also notes that the rise in births to single mothers has lit-
an increase in promiscuity or laziness. The third lesson tle to do with welfare benefit levels and more to do with a
asserts that the widespread belief that welfare has been uni- decrease in the likelihood of marriage among women gener-
formly unsuccessful at improving the quality of life of the ally. Furthermore, the notion of welfare dependence or
poor is grossly inaccurate. addiction is suspect because most recipients receive benefits
Chapter 1 examines "the changing face of poverty" for three years or fewer, and even long-term users typically
through a factual description of the impoverished subpopu- cycle on and off welfare when jobs are available.
lation. Blank notes that "the poor are both white and black, Chapter 5 asks the question, "Who should help the poor?"
single and married, young and old" (p. 15). More than 20% As a response. Blank presents a series of arguments in favor
of all children in the United States are poor, and this of a public safety net. Of the eight posited, two that seem