A recent paper by Mark Duggan and Melissa Kearney found that participation in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which offers a monthly stipend to individuals who prove that they cannot work, leads to a significant and persistent reduction in the probability that a child lives in poverty. The disability benefits from this program have grown from covering 260,000 children in 1989 to cover 1.03 million in 2005.  Duggan and Kearney found that SSI enrollment does not appear to crowd out work, affect the structure of the family, or impact health insurance coverage, but does translate to a direct increase in total household income. Is SSI a welfare benefit that does not degrade the recipient, or is it a program with no strings attached that fails to help the needy?
      
Mark Duggan of the University of Maryland and Melissa Kearney of the Brookings Institution will present their findings. Mark Nadel of Georgetown University, Nada Eissa of the Department of the Treasury, and Richard Burkhauser of Cornell University will join them for a panel discussion. AEI resident scholar Phillip L. Swagel will moderate.