The day care tangle: Unexpected outcomes when programs interact

The day care policy of the United States is generated effectively by interactions among tax law, food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and block grants for social services. These various programs are administered or controlled by different departments, different branches, and different levels of government. As a result, it is difficult to know what effect a change in one program will have on the overall system that determines de facto policy. Congressional changes to the AFDC program, for example, created large changes in the financial incentives for families to choose publicly subsidized day care over private day care, even though subsidized day care is more expensive for the government. By the nature of these changes, it is clear that they were unforeseen and unintended.