How the Safety Net Held Up in the Recession

Finally, some kind words for government. Robert A. Moffitt, an economist at Johns Hopkins University, says in a new paper that the country’s social safety net did a good job during the recession, expanding by half a trillion dollars.

Mr. Moffitt looked at means-tested programs including food stamps, Medicaid, unemployment benefits and the earned income tax credit to determine the increase between 2007 and 2010. He found that spending increased by $500 million and the total caseload rose to 310 million from 276 million. (Many families may have qualified for more than one program.)

A little of the increase came from changes in programs, like extending unemployment insurance payments for longer periods or increasing food stamp payments â€" changes that are now expiring as the economy slowly improves. But most was a result of increasing eligibility as more families slipped down the income ladder. “Ninety percent of the increase was more families receiving benefits,” he said.

“The main message of my whole paper is that I believe the social safety net responded appropriately and in a very healthy way to this severe downturn, and we should be pleased that the president and Congress were able to supply this assistance,” Mr. Moffitt said. “I could not identify one group of people that was not helped by the safety net. That includes single mothers; single men without children; families with no children; the disabled; people with very, very low incomes and more modest incomes â€" they were all helped.”

The paper, which appears this month in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, also found that overall safety net expenditures increased by 18 percent, compared with increases of 5 or 6 percent during the mild recessions of the early 1990s and 2000s, and 14 percent during the more severe recession in the early 1980s.