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DOES THE WELFARE STATE HELP THE POOR?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2002

Tyler Cowen
Tyler Cowen
Affiliation:
Economics, George Mason University
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Extract

Does the welfare state help the poor? This surprisingly simple question often generates more heat than light. By the welfare state, I mean transfer programs aimed at helping the poor through the direct redistribution of income. (This excludes general economic policy, antitrust, the volunteer military, and many other policies that affect the well-being of the poor.) Defenders of the welfare state often assume that the poor benefit from it, while critics suggest that the losses outweigh the gains. The most notable of such criticisms is Charles Murray's Losing Ground, which suggests that the welfare state has failed to achieve its stated ends.

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Philosophy and Policy , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 36 - 54
Copyright
© 2002 Social Philosophy and Policy Foundation

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