
Christopher Howard
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About Christopher
Howard's research focuses on the history and politics of U.S. social policy. He is the author of The Hidden Welfare State (1997) and The Welfare State Nobody Knows (2007), as well as numerous articles and book chapters. He was one of three co-editors for The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Social Policy (2015). His current book project is a comprehensive map of the social safety net, public and private.
Contributions
A Realistic Portrait of the Social Safety Net
What Americans Think about Poverty and How to Reduce It
The Unfinished Debate over Expanding Medicaid in Virginia
What the Ryan Budget Plan Would Mean for Virginia
Tax Expenditures: What They are and Who Benefits
No Jargon Podcast
In the News
Publications
Provides the first comprehensive map of the social safety net, public and private, in the United States.
Offers a fresh approach to research methods, aimed primarily at undergraduates. Presents a balanced amount of experiments, statistical analysis, and case studies. Discusses asking good questions in the first half and providing good answers in the second half of the book.
Summarizes much of what we know about the politics of U.S. social policy with contributions from leading political scientists, sociologists, historians, and economists. Identifies promising paths for future research.
Analyzes the different meanings of “means-testing” among policy elites, some connected to eligibility and benefits and others connected to financing.