Policy impacts of the New Jersey income maintenance experiment

Abstract

This paper deals with a major piece of policy relevant social science research, the New Jersey Experiment in Income Maintenance, and a proposed piece of social legislation, the Family Assistance Plan. An attempt is made to assess the impact which the experiment had on political decision-makers, both in the Administration and the Congress, during deliberations over the legislation. The channels of communication between the researchers and the decision-makers are elaborated; the relevance of the research to the concerns of the decision-makers is described; and the impact of the research on these decision-makers is evaluated.