Welfare

Eric Levitz at New York Magazine claims the American Dream is being killed. He blames three policy decisions by which “we let” wages fall, prices climb, and the social contract fail. My colleague Mike Schietzelt raised the primary objection when sharing the article with me, that Levitz defines…

Mitchell Nemeth uses a Foundation for Economic Education column to explore the notion that Scandinavian countries offer some sort of socialist paradise. As the 2020 presidential election nears, progressive candidates continue to propose social welfare programs focused on expanding government intervention in health care, education, and long-standing familial…

Chris Edwards writes for National Review Online about the government’s role in wealth inequality. Are increases in wealth inequality the awful thing that Democrats claim? It depends on what causes them. Much of the recent modest rise in wealth inequality stems from innovations in our economy that are…

In Changes in Family Structure and Welfare Participation Since the 1960S: The Role of Legal Services, Jamein Cunningham and Andrew Goodman-Bacon document the unintended and undesirable consequences of a federal program that continues to attract widespread, bipartisan support. From the Abstract: This paper evaluates the effects of the War…

Earlier this week, JLF’s Director of Regulatory Studies, Jon Sanders, published a research brief on Corporate Welfare. His piece establishes the four basic combinations of corporate taxes and corporate handouts (see image). Sanders writes that the most recent debate on corporate welfare in North Carolina has centered around the legislature’s…

In his latest Carolina Journal commentary, political analyst John Hood argues the world is actually doing better than people think it is. Hood writes: When it comes to public affairs, bad news is good and good news is bad. That is, political speeches and media pieces that describe a problem…

Betsy McCaughey explains in the New York Post your role in paying for government-provided family leave. Democrats see your paycheck as fair game for their endless social-improvement projects. Every Democrat vying for the White House backs federal legislation that would guarantee workers nearly three months of paid family…

Editors at Issues and Insights wonder why more people haven’t noticed a drop in dependency on the federal government in recent years. Friday’s jobs report showed that the economy created 224,000 new jobs, yet the unemployment rate edged up to 3.7%. Both are welcome news. The unemployment rate…