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Abstract—Governmental programs proposing rental supplements for low‐income families assume that social and economic conditions of these families may be improved by such subsidy. However, this assumption has not been adequately tested by social science research. Data presented here were gathered at an urban renewal relocation housing project in Lubbock, Texas, and suggest that when families who, before urban renewal, were self‐sufficient in slum housing are forced into welfare situations because of rent subsidy programs, dissatisfaction with relocation facilities results. The data also indicate that dissatisfaction is correlated positively with the number of persons in the household, the age of residents, and socioeconomic status.

AbstractDevelopmental state scholars argue that through "embedded autonomy", state activism can steer society towards positive outcomes without capture by private interests. This paper questions this claim through a case study of such activism in Singapore. It argues that not only may rent-seeking have been encouraged by Singapore's use of industrial policy but that such a policy goes hand in hand with attempts by state actors to create an economic culture that legitimises such behaviour. The wider implication drawn is that mission-oriented state activism may require extensive cultural engineering to foster consensus over the relevant "missions", but this level of social penetration also increases the risk of private interests capturing the state in less visible ways.