The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United StatesCambridge University Press, 2002 M09 9 - 447 pages The Divided Welfare State is the first comprehensive political analysis of America's distinctive system of public and private social benefits. Everyone knows that the American welfare state is unusual--less expensive and extensive, later to develop and slower to grow, than comparable programs abroad. Yet, U.S. social policy does not stand out solely for its limits. American social spending is actually as high as spending is in many European nations. What is truly distinctive is that so many social welfare duties are handled not by the state, but by the private sector with government support. With sweeping historical reach and a wealth of statistical and cross-national evidence, The Divided Welfare State demonstrates that private social benefits have not merely been shaped by public policy, but have deeply influenced the politics of public social programs--to produce a social policy framework whose political and social effects are strikingly different than often assumed. At a time of fierce new debates about social policy, this book is essential to understanding the roots of America's distinctive model and its future possibilities. Jacob S. Hacker is the Peter Strauss Family Assistant Profesor of Political Science at Yale University. Previously, he was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows and Fellow at the New America Foundation as well as a Guest Scholar and Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton's Plan for Health Security (Princeton, 1997), which was co-winner of the 1997 Louis Brownlow Book Award of the National Academy of Public Administration. His articles and opinion pieces have appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and Washington Post. A regular media commentator, he has discussed his work widely on C-Span, national public radio and in papers nationwide. |
From inside the book
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Page ix
... Americans Covered by Private Health Insurance and Medicare / Medicaid , 1940-1995 262 7.1 U.S. Federal Expenditures as a Percentage of GDP , 1962- 2000 316 Preface Whatever else they are about , debates over social ix List of Figures.
... Americans Covered by Private Health Insurance and Medicare / Medicaid , 1940-1995 262 7.1 U.S. Federal Expenditures as a Percentage of GDP , 1962- 2000 316 Preface Whatever else they are about , debates over social ix List of Figures.
Page xi
... debates over social policy concern what government should do to influence the well - being and life chances of citizens . The question does not afford a single answer . Faced with social problems , political leaders might turn to new or ...
... debates over social policy concern what government should do to influence the well - being and life chances of citizens . The question does not afford a single answer . Faced with social problems , political leaders might turn to new or ...
Page xii
... debate . This book looks beneath the surface and shows that the framework of U.S. social policy appears very different when we do so . My animat- ing claim is that we miss a crucial range of public policies and a massive realm of social ...
... debate . This book looks beneath the surface and shows that the framework of U.S. social policy appears very different when we do so . My animat- ing claim is that we miss a crucial range of public policies and a massive realm of social ...
Page xiii
... debates over them unfold . The politics of private social benefits , I argue , is " subterranean " politics - far less visible to the broad public , far more favorable to the privileged , far less constrained by the features of American ...
... debates over them unfold . The politics of private social benefits , I argue , is " subterranean " politics - far less visible to the broad public , far more favorable to the privileged , far less constrained by the features of American ...
Page xiv
... debates or influence them for the better , we need to see both the boundaries and the oppor- tunities that the past bestows upon us . For opening my own eyes , I have a good many friends , colleagues , and loved ones to thank . At the ...
... debates or influence them for the better , we need to see both the boundaries and the oppor- tunities that the past bestows upon us . For opening my own eyes , I have a good many friends , colleagues , and loved ones to thank . At the ...
Contents
The Politics of Public and Private Social Benefits | 28 |
The Politics of Public and Private Pensions | 67 |
Introduction | 71 |
Connected at Birth Public and Private Pensions Before 1945 | 85 |
Sibling Rivalry Public and Private Pensions After 1945 | 124 |
The Politics of Public and Private Health Insurance | 175 |
Introduction | 179 |
Seeds of Exceptionalism Public and Private Health Insurance Before 1945 | 191 |
Other editions - View all
The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social ... Jacob S. Hacker No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
Adema Altmeyer American Political American welfare regime ance approaches Blue Cross Cambridge Clark amendment Committee Congress congressional conservative corporate costs coverage created debate Democrats economic effects employers employment-based ERISA expansion favor federal finance Folsom fringe benefits fund groups historical Industrial institutions leaders legislation major Medicare ment national health insurance OECD old-age insurance path dependence Paul Pierson pension plans percent Political Science Princeton University Press private benefits private health insurance private insurance private pensions private plans private social benefits private social insurance proposals public and private public policy public programs public social programs reform regulation Retirement Income risk role sector Senate social insurance social protection Social Security Act Social Security Administration Social Security's social spending social welfare SSAHA structure tax expenditures tax subsidies tax treatment Theda Skocpol tion U.S. social policy unions United voluntary wage Washington Washington D.C. Welfare Capitalism workers York