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
Results 1-5 of 72
Page 6
... risks of modern life . Today , the welfare state is at the center of political debate in the United States and other nations . Buffeted by economic shocks and political opposition , by aging populations and increasing social diversity ...
... risks of modern life . Today , the welfare state is at the center of political debate in the United States and other nations . Buffeted by economic shocks and political opposition , by aging populations and increasing social diversity ...
Page 7
... risks that plans once covered . At the same time , America's political leaders have increasingly looked to the private sector for the models and means for transforming established public social programs . President George W. Bush , for ...
... risks that plans once covered . At the same time , America's political leaders have increasingly looked to the private sector for the models and means for transforming established public social programs . President George W. Bush , for ...
Page 10
... risks.1" Indeed , an important aim of students of social policy has been to show how nations moved beyond a narrow " residual " conception of social policy as poverty relief to a broader " institutional " vision that put inclusive ...
... risks.1" Indeed , an important aim of students of social policy has been to show how nations moved beyond a narrow " residual " conception of social policy as poverty relief to a broader " institutional " vision that put inclusive ...
Page 23
... egalitarian than we instinctively believe , they are substantially more risk- and income - redistributive than are private social benefits . Coverage is typically broader under public programs American Exceptionalism Revisited 23.
... egalitarian than we instinctively believe , they are substantially more risk- and income - redistributive than are private social benefits . Coverage is typically broader under public programs American Exceptionalism Revisited 23.
Page 24
... risks across large numbers of citizens . Moreover , the means by which these benefits tend to be subsidized skews them even more toward the upper end of the income scale . Special tax subsidies for private benefits , for example ...
... risks across large numbers of citizens . Moreover , the means by which these benefits tend to be subsidized skews them even more toward the upper end of the income scale . Special tax subsidies for private benefits , for example ...
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