This book contains 10 papers on three key questions regarding the effects of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which ended the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program: why welfare caseloads are falling; how welfare recipients are faring; and how the states are responding to changing conditions. The following papers are included: "Introduction: What Are the Early Lessons?" (Sheldon Danziger); "Welfare Reform, the Business Cycle and the Decline in AFDC Caseloads" (David N. Figlio, James P. Zililak); "What Goes up Must Come Down? Explaining Recent Changes in Public Assistance Caseloads" (Geoffrey Wallace, Rebecca M. Blank); "The Effect of Pre-PRWORA Waivers on AFDC Caseloads and Female Earnings, Income, and Labor Force Behavior" (Robert A. Moffitt); "Examining the Effect of Industry Trends and Structure on Welfare Caseloads" (Timothy J. Bartik, Randall W. Eberts); "Work, Earnings, and Well-Being after Welfare: What Do We Know?" (Maria Cancian, Robert Havemen, Thomas Kaplan, Daniel Meyer, Barbara Wolfe); "Employer Demand for Welfare Recipients and the Business Cycle: Evidence from Recent Employer Surveys" (Harry J. Holzer); "What Will the States Do When Jobs Are Not Plentiful? Policy and Implementation Challenges" (LaDonna A. Pavetti); "Cyclical Welfare Costs in the Post-Reform Era: Will There Be Enough Money?" (Phillip B. Levine); and "The States, Welfare Reform, and the Business Cycle" (Howard Chernick, Therese J. McGuire). Most papers include substantial bibliographies. (MN)