Is the welfare state justified? / Daniel Shapiro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shapiro, Daniel, 1954- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Welfare state.

Free enterprise.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 323 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this book, Daniel Shapiro argues that the dominant positions in contemporary political philosophy - egalitarianism, positive rights theory, communitarianism, and many forms of liberalism - should converge in a rejection of central welfare state institutions. He examines how major welfare institutions, such as government-financed and -administered retirement pensions, national health insurance, and programs for the needy, actually work. Comparing them to compulsory private insurance and private charities, Shapiro argues that the dominant perspectives in political philosophy mistakenly think that their principles support the welfare state. Instead, egalitarians, positive rights theorists, communitarians, and liberals have misunderstood the implications of their own principles, which in fact support more market-based or libertarian institutional conclusions than they may realize. Shapiro's book is unique in its combination of political philosophy with social science. Its focus is not limited to any particular country; rather it examines welfare states in affluent democracies and their market alternatives.

Contents:

Introduction

Justification in political philosophy

Internal versus external arguments

Clarifying the institutional alternatives

Coming attractions

Central perspectives in political philosophy

Justice, equality, and fairness

Basic rights, liberty and well-being

Community and solidarity

Public justification and epistemic accessibility

Health insurance, part I

The topic's importance

The institutional alternatives

Egalitarianism and NHI

Risks and choices : egalitarian reasons for MHI

Rationing, visibility, and egalitarian outcomes : why market allocation is better

Why the priority view agrees with the egalitarian support of MHI

Health insurance, part II

Basic rights and the right to health care

The content of the right

The grounds of the right to health care

Health care and communitarianism

Public justification, information, and rationing

Conclusion : the reasons for MHI's superiority

Old-age or retirement pensions

Egalitarianism, fairness, and retirement pensions

Positive rights and security

Community, solidarity, and pension systems

Public justification, epistemic accessibility, and the superiority of private pension

Conclusion

Welfare or means-tested benefits, part I

Introduction

Different kinds of state welfare

Nongovernmental aid

Egalitarianism and welfare-state redistribution

Why prioritarianism agrees with egalitarianism about welfare policy

Will private charity be enough?

Welfare or means-tested benefits, part II

The right to welfare

Communitarianism and welfare

Public justification, epistemic accessibility, and welfare

Conclusion : the uncertain choice between state and private conditional aid

The problems with SS and the transition problem

The Cato plan

The Brookings plan

Comparing the two plans

Where things stand.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-309) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-17779-0

1-280-95987-8

9786610959877

0-511-29674-6

0-511-29599-5

0-511-29442-5

0-511-56897-5

0-511-61912-X

0-511-29520-0

OCLC:

476086973