1 / 25

History of the Idea of Welfare State and the Growth of the Welfare State

History of the Idea of Welfare State and the Growth of the Welfare State. Russell S. Sobel, Ph.D. Where We Stand Today. Federal Spending appx . $3.7 trillion Govt. grown by almost 10% of GDP in last decade Over 60% of federal spending is transfers. Where We Stand Today.

becka
Download Presentation

History of the Idea of Welfare State and the Growth of the Welfare State

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. History of the Idea of Welfare State and the Growth of the Welfare State Russell S. Sobel, Ph.D.

  2. Where We Stand Today • Federal Spending appx. $3.7 trillion • Govt. grown by almost 10% of GDP in last decade • Over 60% of federal spending is transfers

  3. Where We Stand Today Transfer payments now 1/5 of National Income

  4. Where We Stand Today • As recently as 1960 defense was ½ the budget

  5. Are We At A Tipping Point? • Individuals benefitting from government now exceed those paying for government Share of families deriving income from government

  6. Are We At A Tipping Point? • Now about 50/50 with Tax vs. No Tax

  7. Searching for the Origins of the Welfare State – A Trip Back in Time • I will focus on what the economics literature has argued and found on this issue…..

  8. When Did It Begin?

  9. Did Universal Suffrage Cause It?

  10. Did the Income Tax Cause It?

  11. Did the Income Tax Cause It? But is the adoption of the income tax a SYMPTOM or a CAUSE???

  12. BUT…Spending Growth Prior to 1913 isNot As Flat As It Looks

  13. Did Union Veterans Start It? First “selective” transfer as CSA Veterans Didn’t Qualify

  14. Did Union Veterans Start It?

  15. Did the Supreme Court Cause It? • Anderson & Hill trace the birth of the transfer society back to the 1877 Munn v. Illinois case that allowed the Illinois legislature to regulation grain elevator rates. • Others argue 20th century ‘court packing’, war on drugs/terror, and other changes through time have led to a Supreme Court that has allowed government to go beyond the constitution (“constitutional erosion”)

  16. Did it start prior to the Civil War? • Also changed: • Line-item Veto for President • Single issue bills only (with funding source included) • 2/3 majority for spending bills • No open ended entitlements • Benefits received taxation

  17. Did it start in 1789?

  18. So Not As Easy As It Looks To Figure Out When It Happened…

  19. When or Why? • But even if we knew when, the big question is still WHY? • Did we lose the “moral” argument, or did we simply lose the “numbers” in an economic and political sense and get “out voted”??

  20. Thank You

  21. Extra Material that may be needed for Q&A stuff follows

  22. Centralization (caused by Civil War?)

More Related