A wide range of antipoverty programs have been in place in the United States for decades, and millions of Americans depend on them. How effective have these programs been? Are they wasteful or efficient? Who do they reach?  In this interview, Bill Butz, president of PRB, talks with Robert Moffitt, the Krieger-Eisenhower professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, about the various types of U.S. antipoverty programs and policies and how the current recession will affect these programs. Moffitt’s research specialties include labor economics, econometrics, population economics, and the economics of antipoverty policies and programs. Moffitt is also currently the chief editor of the American Economic Review.