All Posts Tagged With: "welfare reform"

The Shortcomings of Government Charity

Jude Blanchette is a freelance writer living in China. In their book, Myths of Rich and Poor, W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm observe, “Some part of human nature connects with the apocalyptic. Time and again, the pessimists among us have envisioned the world going straight to hell.” To be sure, “pessimists” apparently run most [...]

1May2007 | Jude Blanchette | 4 comments | Continued

The Never-Ending Welfare Debate

Norman Barry, a contributing editor of Ideas on Liberty, is professor of social and political theory at the University of Buckingham in the UK. He is the author of An Introduction to Modern Political Theory (St. Martin’s Press). After a long struggle, a “revolutionary” welfare reform bill, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act [...]

1Mar2001 | Norman Barry | 1 comment | Continued

Incentives and Disincentives: They Really Do Matter!

“If you encourage something, you get more of it. If you discourage something, you get less of it.” Whoever first said that deserves a medal for putting to words one of the most profoundly important elements of human nature. Human beings respond—often powerfully—to both incentives and disincentives. An understanding of this great truth is critical [...]

1Nov2000 | Lawrence W. Reed | 3 comments | Continued

The Economic Consequences of Rolling Back the Welfare State

It took America’s professional politicians little more than three decades to spend more than $5.5 trillion on welfare programs for their constituents. Looking back, we know the results have not been pretty: work incentives were stood on their head by moral hazards created by government largess. Millions of able-bodied people have been trapped in poverty [...]

1Sep2000 | David L. Littmann | 0 comments | Continued

Let’s Not Promote Dependency

Daniel Oliver (www.smart.net/~doliver/) is a Washington, D.C.-based editor and writer and a research associate at the Capital Research Center (www.capitalresearch.org). Despite the good news that national welfare rolls have declined nearly 40 percent over the last five years and that recent federal and state reforms appear to be at least partly responsible for this decline, [...]

1Nov1999 | Daniel T. Oliver | 1 comment | Continued

Aid to Owners of Dependent Enterprises

There is widespread support for ending welfare, and for nudging, or pushing, welfare recipients into self-sufficiency through employment. Congress even voted to end Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), though President Clinton and the Republican Congress have since backpedaled. However, there has been no similar attempt to eliminate what might be called Aid to [...]

1Nov1997 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | Continued

Welfare Reform

All fashions of this world pass away. The welfare state which came into vogue during the 1930s may be with us for a while yet, but not for long. It is dying by inches, going out with the tide of socialism and its many variations. Welfarism is bound to die from its innate venom and [...]

1Jan1997 | Hans F. Sennholz | 1 comment | Continued

Lessons for Welfare Reformers

Government welfare programs are on the intellectual chopping block, as well they should be. Reams of evidence, reflecting the destruction of the real lives of real people, point to a decisive verdict: the welfare state is a costly failure. Moreover, reformers are right to call for a revival of private social welfare initiatives. When private [...]

1Jun1996 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | Continued

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