Social Policy

Social Policy: Income Maintenance
How is economic ideology reflected in social policy?
What role does government have in assisting the population in maintaining a minimum standard of living?
What roles do individuals have in their own economic and social condition?

International Ranking
The US is by far the world’s leading economic power. US GDP totaled $10.4trn in 2002.
The US is the wealthiest country in the world with a per capita GDP of over $37,800.
(International purchasing power parity). US output was three times the size of Japan’s output, almost five times the size of Germany’s and more than six times the size of the UK’s.

International Rank
37.0 million people in the US were living below the official poverty thresholds in 2004.
Nationally, there are 1.1 to 3.5 million homeless people
Compared to similar developed democracies, the US ranks 17 of 21 in the HDI. (a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living)

US Attitude Toward Government Assistance: Ideas
Americans not comfortable with the idea of a “welfare state”
Instead, there is an emphasis on individual responsibility, equality of opportunity and risk-taking (protestant ethics of rugged individualism)

US Attitude Toward Government Assistance: Ideas
Public Opinion
45% of Americans believe that the poor in the US are “mainly to blame for their own poverty”
Majority believe people who are unemployed could find paid work without much difficulty
But 75% believe government could do more to help poor

Who is considered poor?
Government classification of “poverty”
Threshold income level (poverty line)
Designed by the Dept of Agriculture in 1963
Official poverty level in 2005 for family of 4 was about $19,806 (pre-tax).
The New economy created he working poor
Low medium wages
Expensive Housing
Leave civil liberties at home
Dictatorship in companies
Workers don’t fight back
Endure deprivation

Constraints in Fighting Poverty
Controversial Issue
Policies based more on ideology, not actual statistics
Ambiguity on programs that fight poverty
Grants to foster parents
Job training
Scholarships to low income students

Types of Income Maintenance
Means-tested programs (1935)
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Changed to TANF in 1996
Designed to benefit few, but became the largest of the mean-tested programmes
National program implemented by state/local governments
Food stamps
Supplemental Security Income

Types of Income Maintenance
Social Insurance (Entitlement Programs)
Non-means tested
Social Security
Social Security
Largest item in the federal budget
Provides pensions to retired people and disability protection
Worker’s Compensation
Unemployment Insurance
Social insurance programs have been resistant to change

Social Security Funding: Pay as you go system Seniors New entrees to work force Middle Aged Workers Seniors Middle Age Workers New entrees to the work force

Welfare Reform Resistant to Change
constrained because unpopularity among voters
Institutionalisation of the programs
(Agenda Setting) Welfare reform was brought about more by ideology rather than by any economic implications or competitive pressures.

Clinton’s Welfare Reform
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)
From AFDC to TANF
Goal was to change the behaviour of the poor more than reduce the cost of welfare
Welfare to workfare

Clinton’s Welfare Reform
(1996) PRWORA Passed
Means Test:
“ cash support for low income families with dependent children who have been deprived of parental support due to death, disability, continued absence of a parent, or unemployment”
Program Administration
Block grants are allocated to states
States carry the burden of needed increases
2004 TANF payments averaged $400 per family

Evaluate the Policy
In 2004, the number of families receiving assistance was reduced in half.
Has the welfare reform worked in truly reducing poverty?

Quiz
After watching the case study, evaluate the success of the 1996 welfare reforms?
First, define success.
Then, evaluate the success of the reform based on your definition.

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Social Policy

by ldelzeitmcintyre

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