Wealth and welfare states : is America a laggard or leader? / Irwin Garfinkel, Lee Rainwater, and Timothy Smeeding.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Garfinkel, Irwin.

Contributor:

Rainwater, Lee.

Smeeding, Timothy M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Welfare state.

Welfare state--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (265 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Summary:

This book explores the role of the welfare state in the overall wealth and well being 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 educa

Contents:

Contents; Figures and Tables; 1. Introduction; 2. Why All Rich Nations Have Large Welfare States; 3. The Size, Nature, and Universality of Welfare State Transfers; 4. How Welfare State Programs Redistribute Income, Reduce Poverty and Inequality, Build and Sustain Human Capital, and Promote Opportunity; 5. A Short American-centric History of Welfare State Programs and Outcomes; 6. Explaining American Exceptionalism: Laggard in Public Relief and Social Insurance-Leader in Education; 7. Explaining US Divergence in the Last Quarter of the Twentieth Century: The Long Swing Right

8. The Future of the American Welfare State References; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-19-103755-9

1-282-50199-2

9786612501999

0-19-157372-8

OCLC:

536370636