Using Computers to Combat Welfare Fraud

In this study, David Greenberg and Douglas Wolf describe, systematize, and evaluate the cost effectiveness of computerized anti-fraud procedures in public welfare programs. In particular, they discusss the Congressionally mandated wage matching systems used to check for under-reported or non-reported incomes of participants in the AFDC and Food Stamp Programs. The authors describe the implementation of such systems in several local areas around the country, point out factors that currently impede the use of wage matching, and suggest ways of reducing such impediments. They also enumerate the advantages and disadvantages of alternative wage matching procedures and techniques, both in theory and practice. Cost benefit analyses of four existing wage matching systems are then presented. Finally, the authors present their conclusions and make recommendations. This volume is complete with a flow chart showing the operation of a typical wage-matching system, and a table summarizing the costs and benefits to the government of running such systems.

David Greenberg is a professor of history and media studies at Rutgers University, a columnist for Slate, and the author of the prizewinning Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image. A former acting editor of The New Republic, he has written for many scholarly and popular publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He lives in New York City.