Wealth and Welfare States

Wealth and Welfare States PDF Author: Irwin Garfinkel
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191037559
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This book explores the role of the welfare state in the overall wealth and wellbeing of nations and in particular looks at the American welfare state in comparison with other developed nations in Europe and elsewhere. It is widely believed that the welfare state undermines productivity and economic growth, that the United States has an unusually small welfare state, and that it is, and always has been, a welfare state laggard. This book shows that all rich nations, including the United States, have large welfare states because the socialized programs that comprise the welfare state-public education and health and social insurance—enhance the productivity of capitalism. In public education, the most productive part of the welfare state, for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States was a leader. Though few would argue that public education is not part of the welfare state, most previous cross national analyses of welfare states have omitted education. Including education has profound consequences, undergirding the case for the productivity of welfare state programs and the explanation for why all rich nations have large welfare states, and identifying US welfare state leadership. From 1968 through 2006, the United States swung right politically and lost its lead in education and opportunity, failed to adopt universal health insurance and experienced the most rapid explosion of health care costs and economic inequality in the rich world. The American welfare state faces large challenges. Restoring its historical lead in education is the most important but requires investing large sums in education, beginning with universal pre-school and in complementary programs that aid children's development. The American health insurance system is by far the most costly in the rich world, yet fails to insure one sixth of its population, produces below average results, crowds out useful investments in children, and is the least equitably financed. Achieving universal coverage will increase costs. Only complete government financing is likely to restrain long term costs. In memory of Robert J. Lampman Colleague, Co-author, Friend and Mentor

Wealth and Welfare States

Wealth and Welfare States PDF Author: Irwin Garfinkel
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191037559
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the role of the welfare state in the overall wealth and wellbeing of nations and in particular looks at the American welfare state in comparison with other developed nations in Europe and elsewhere. It is widely believed that the welfare state undermines productivity and economic growth, that the United States has an unusually small welfare state, and that it is, and always has been, a welfare state laggard. This book shows that all rich nations, including the United States, have large welfare states because the socialized programs that comprise the welfare state-public education and health and social insurance—enhance the productivity of capitalism. In public education, the most productive part of the welfare state, for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States was a leader. Though few would argue that public education is not part of the welfare state, most previous cross national analyses of welfare states have omitted education. Including education has profound consequences, undergirding the case for the productivity of welfare state programs and the explanation for why all rich nations have large welfare states, and identifying US welfare state leadership. From 1968 through 2006, the United States swung right politically and lost its lead in education and opportunity, failed to adopt universal health insurance and experienced the most rapid explosion of health care costs and economic inequality in the rich world. The American welfare state faces large challenges. Restoring its historical lead in education is the most important but requires investing large sums in education, beginning with universal pre-school and in complementary programs that aid children's development. The American health insurance system is by far the most costly in the rich world, yet fails to insure one sixth of its population, produces below average results, crowds out useful investments in children, and is the least equitably financed. Achieving universal coverage will increase costs. Only complete government financing is likely to restrain long term costs. In memory of Robert J. Lampman Colleague, Co-author, Friend and Mentor

Welfare for the Wealthy

Welfare for the Wealthy PDF Author: Christopher G. Faricy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316352455
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
How does political party control determine changes to social policy, and by extension, influence inequality in America? Conventional theories show that Democratic control of the federal government produces more social expenditures and less inequality. Welfare for the Wealthy re-examines this relationship by evaluating how political party power results in changes to both public social spending and subsidies for private welfare - and how a trade-off between the two, in turn, affects income inequality. Christopher Faricy finds that both Democrats and Republicans have increased social spending over the last forty-two years. And while both political parties increase federal social spending, Democrats and Republicans differ in how they spend federal money, which socioeconomic groups benefit, and the resulting consequences for income inequality.

The Divided Welfare State

The Divided Welfare State PDF Author: Jacob S. Hacker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521013284
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
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Race, Money, and the American Welfare State

Race, Money, and the American Welfare State PDF Author: Michael E. Brown
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501722352
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
The American welfare state is often blamed for exacerbating social problems confronting African Americans while failing to improve their economic lot. Michael K. Brown contends that our welfare system has in fact denied them the social provision it gives white citizens while stigmatizing them as recipients of government benefits for low income citizens. In his provocative history of America's "safety net" from its origins in the New Deal through much of its dismantling in the 1990s, Brown explains how the forces of fiscal conservatism and racism combined to shape a welfare state in which blacks are disproportionately excluded from mainstream programs.Brown describes how business and middle class opposition to taxes and spending limited the scope of the Social Security Act and work relief programs of the 1930s and the Great Society in the 1960s. These decisions produced a welfare state that relies heavily on privately provided health and pension programs and cash benefits for the poor. In a society characterized by pervasive racial discrimination, this outcome, Michael Brown makes clear, has led to a racially stratified welfare system: by denying African Americans work, whites limited their access to private benefits as well as to social security and other forms of social insurance, making welfare their "main occupation." In his conclusion, Brown addresses the implications of his argument for both conservative and liberal critiques of the Great Society and for policies designed to remedy inner-city poverty.

Wealth and Welfare States

Wealth and Welfare States PDF Author: Irwin Garfinkel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description


Development, Democracy, and Welfare States

Development, Democracy, and Welfare States PDF Author: Stephan Haggard
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691135960
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
Comparing the welfare states of Latin America, East Asia and Eastern Europe, the authors trace the origins of social policy in these regions to political changes in the mid-20th century, and show how the legacies of these early choices are influencing welfare reform following democratization and globalization.

The Moral Economy of Welfare States

The Moral Economy of Welfare States PDF Author: Steffen Mau
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134370555
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
This book investigates why people are willing to support an institutional arrangement that realises large-scale redistribution of wealth between social groups of society. Steffen Mau introduces the concept of 'the moral economy' to show that acceptance of welfare exchanges rests on moral assumptions and ideas of social justice people adhere to. Analysing both the institution of welfare and the public attitudes towards such schemes, the book demonstrates that people are neither selfish nor altruistic; rather they tend to reason reciprocally.

The Welfare State

The Welfare State PDF Author: David Garland
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199672660
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
This Very Short Introduction discusses the necessity of welfare states in modern capitalist societies. Situating social policy in an historical, sociological, and comparative perspective, David Garland brings a new understanding to familiar debates, policies, and institutions.

Age in the Welfare State

Age in the Welfare State PDF Author: Julia Lynch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139454951
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
This book asks why some countries devote the lion's share of their social policy resources to the elderly, while others have a more balanced repertoire of social spending. Far from being the outcome of demands for welfare spending by powerful age-based groups in society, the 'age' of welfare is an unintended consequence of the way that social programs are set up. The way that politicians use welfare state spending to compete for votes, along either programmatic or particularistic lines, locks these early institutional choices into place. So while society is changing - aging, divorcing, moving in and out of the labor force over the life course in new ways - social policies do not evolve to catch up. The result, in occupational welfare states like Italy, the United States, and Japan, is social spending that favors the elderly and leaves working-aged adults and children largely to fend for themselves.

No Wealth But Life

No Wealth But Life PDF Author: Roger E. Backhouse
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521197864
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This book offers a fresh perspective on the history of welfare economics in Britain, arguing that it needs to be considered alongside the movement toward a welfare state. It is argued that there were two competing approaches to welfare economics, associated with the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, based on different philosophical foundations.