Wealth and Welfare States Is America a Laggard or Leader?

摘要

In the welfare state literature, the USA has almost always been pinned down as the laggard with its minimal intervention and limited social protection policies. Garfinkel, Rainwater and Smeeding contradict this view and persuasively argue that the extent of welfare state is a definitional matter. When the spending on public services, and particularly on education, is considered, the USA appears to be a leader at least up until 1980s (Chapter 5). The other crucial argument of the book is the positive association between welfare states and economic prosperity. In Chapter 2, Garfinkel et al assert that these policies increase productivity and efficiency by cushioning against economic insecurities generated by the markets. Indeed, the USA's growth success can largely be attributed to the massive positive spillovers of its investments in public education throughout the nineteenth and most of the twentieth century. The authors conclude (in Chapter 8) that there are significant challenges ahead of the US welfare state as education spending has declined consistently since the mid-1960s, the expensive health insurance system will bring sub-optimal results, and there is very little cash assistance -thus raising the likelihood of persistent poverty over coming generations. Thus, to restore competitiveness, the USA needs to invest more in these areas, and expand the coverage of its social safety nets.