What did Alexis de Tocqueville describe as the major difference between the initial impulse of the Americans and the French in response to dealing with social needs?

Core Concept: National traditions shape welfare.

Definition: Americans formed voluntary societies. The French used the state. A feared state weakens civil bonds.

Example: American settlement houses vs. French state provision.

Significance: Voluntarism creates geographic inequities. Explains American exceptionalism.

Americans formed voluntary societies for social needs; the French used state intervention. This volunteer approach explains American uniqueness but creates unequal services.

What was T. H Marshall’s explanation for the development of the welfare state?

Core Concept: Citizenship rights evolved sequentially.

Definition: Civil rights (18th) → political (19th) → social (20th). Welfare ensures participation.

Example: Property/contracts → voting → Social Security/healthcare.

Significance: Framed welfare as a citizenship right, not charity. The 1990s shifted to responsibilities.

Citizenship rights evolved through civil (18th century), political (19th), and social (20th) rights. Welfare became a citizenship right rather than charity.

What are the three basic principles of the English poor law?

Core Concept: Foundational principles persisting today.

Definition: (1) local responsibility, (2) training for children, (3) employment for the able-bodied.

Example: 1601 Act required parishes to levy taxes, appoint overseers, and distinguish deserving from able-bodied.

Significance: Persist in federal vs. local, work requirements, deserving vs. undeserving debates.

The principles were local responsibility, child training, and work requirements. These persist today in work requirements and distinctions between deserving and undeserving poor

What do the Poor Law Reform of 1834 and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) have in common?

Core Concept: Punitive work requirements from moral failure beliefs.

Definition: 1834 required workhouse tests ("less eligibility"). TANF imposed 5-year limits, and work within 2 years.

Example: 1834 workhouses were harsh. TANF sanctions cut benefits.

Significance: Rights-to-responsibilities shifts. Deservingness criteria recur despite poverty evidence.

Both impose work requirements based on moral failure beliefs. Workhouse tests and TANF limits represent rights-to-responsibilities shifts emphasizing individual responsibility.

What is the difference between the way goods and services are allocated in the social and economic markets of the welfare state?

Core Concept: Exchange vs. transfers.

Definition: Economic uses price and payment. Social uses need-based criteria without exchange.

Example: Economic = buy coffee. Social = receive SNAP.

Significance: Welfare supersedes the market, redistributes resources.

Economic markets use price for allocation, while social markets use need-based criteria. SNAP exemplifies how welfare supersedes market mechanisms to redistribute by need.

What are the three basic elements in the analytic approach to social welfare policy in this course?

Core Concept: Systematic examination of choices and values.

Definition: (1) analysis (breaking into parts), (2) identifying alternatives, (3) recognizing values.

Example: EITC: (1) refundable component, (2) cash vs. services, (3) "making work pay."

Significance: Reveals how technical choices embody political/moral commitments.

The elements are analysis, identifying choices, and recognizing values. EITC analysis reveals how technical decisions like refundable credits embody political values about work.

What are the differences between conservative vs. progressive views of the causes of social problems?

Core Concept: Agency vs. structure debate.

Definition: Conservatives blame individual choices and fear dependency. Progressives blame structural barriers and see equity.

Example: Conservatives: "welfare queens." Progressives: racism and job scarcity.

Significance: Individual failure justifies work requirements. Structural barriers justify support.

Conservatives blame individual choices, justifying work requirements; progressives blame structural barriers like discrimination, justifying support, reflecting agency versus structure debates.

How did Aristotle define the difference between numerical equality and proportional equality?

Core Concept: Identical treatment vs. merit-based.

Definition: Numerical = everyone is identical. Proportional = based on merit/contribution/need.

Example: Numerical = all students same grades. Proportional = grades by performance.

Significance: Most debates involve proportional equality bases.

Numerical equality means identical treatment, while proportional distribution by merit, uniform grading versus performance-based grading reflects most equality debates.

How do Galbraith’s argument about the “dependence effect” and Buchanan’s theory of “public choice” differ in terms of their implications for increased government spending? Explain why.

Core Concept: Market vs. government failure.

Definition: Galbraith: Advertising creates artificial wants justifying spending. Buchanan: Politicians serve special interests, suggesting excessive spending.

Example: Galbraith 50 different types of cereals, instead of spending that money on crumbling schools. Buchanan = farm subsidies for agribusiness.

Significance: Shapes whether spending corrects market failure or worsens government failure.

Galbraith argued that advertising creates artificial wants, justifying spending. Buchanan claimed politicians serve special interests, worsening government failure.

Why did Hayek argue that the "Dependence Effect" was a non sequitur?

Core Concept: No basis for distinguishing authentic from artificial wants.

Definition: Hayek: advertising-shaped wants remain individuals' wants. All wants above subsistence are socially influenced. Can't distinguish without imposing planners' preferences.

Example: If advertising-created wants are illegitimate, art/music/education desires are equally suspect.

Significance: Reflects consumer sovereignty disagreement. Hayek defends markets as information processors. 

Hayek argued that all wants beyond survival are socially shaped, making advertising versus art distinctions arbitrary, defending markets as information processors.

What are the four fundamental questions (dimensions of choice) that have to be addressed in designing social welfare policies? 

Core Concept: Who, what, how delivered, how financed.

Definition: (1) eligibility, (2) benefit form, (3) delivery strategy, (4) financing method.

Example: TANF: means-tested families, cash grants, state agencies, federal block grants.

Significance: Choices reflect values. All policies address each

dimension. 

The four dimensions are eligibility, benefit form, service delivery, and financing. TANF illustrates through means-tested eligibility, cash grants, state delivery, and federal block grants.

If there is no evidence that a social program is effective, some would say that it should be continued because even if we can’t prove it’s beneficial, “doing something is better than nothing– “if only one child is saved …” What is the counterargument?

Core Concept: Opportunity cost argument.

Definition: If $23M on ineffective programs, could resources save more through alternatives like teacher training or poverty reduction?

Example: Abuse curriculum too sophisticated for 3-5-year-olds. Funds could train teachers to identify abuse.

Significance: Emotional arguments justify ineffective programs. Requires comparing to counterfactuals.

The counterargument emphasizes opportunity costs: resources on ineffective programs could fund proven alternatives like teacher training. Emotional arguments justify ineffective programs without comparing alternatives.

What is “regulatory welfare?”

Core Concept: Government mandates private benefits, not direct spending.

Definition: Uses rules to mandate benefits: labor laws, zoning, employer mandates, and rent control.

Example: ACA employer mandate. Inclusionary zoning. Rent control.

Significance: Rarely in budgets despite redistributive effects.

Government mandates private benefits through labor laws, zoning, and employer mandates without direct spending. ACA employer mandate exemplifies regulatory welfare rarely appearing in budgets.

How did Richard Titmuss define social, occupational and fiscal welfare?

Core Concept: Three distinct channels.

Definition: Social: state provision. Occupational: employer benefits. Fiscal: tax benefits.

Example: Social = Medicare. Occupational = 401(k). Fiscal = mortgage deduction, EITC.

Significance: Occupational and fiscal create "hidden welfare" benefiting the middle/upper classes.

Social welfare involves state provision, occupational comes through employer benefits, and fiscal operates through tax benefits. Medicare, 401(k)s, and mortgage deductions exemplify hidden welfare.

How does the US spending on social welfare compare to that of the wealthy Western European countries when measured by the OECD calculation of Gross Public Social Expenditure versus when measured by the OECD calculation of Net Social Expenditure per capita, controlling for the purchasing power of different national currencies?

Core Concept: Measurement changes ranking.

Definition: Gross shows U.S. near the bottom (18% GDP vs. 25%+ Europe). Net per capita shows the U.S. at the top.

Example: U.S. ranks 20th on gross, 1st-2nd on net per capita.

Significance: Reveals "hidden welfare" through the tax code and employers.

Gross public expenditure shows the U.S. near the bottom at 18% GDP versus 25%+ Europe. Net per capita shows the U.S. at the top, revealing hidden welfare.

What is the difference between a refundable tax credit and a non-refundable tax credit?

Core Concept: Refundability determines if the poor get credits.

Definition: Refundable pays beyond tax owed. Non-refundable only reduces to zero.

Example: $3K credit, $1.5K tax owed: refundable = $1.5K refund. Non-refundable = zero tax only.

Significance: Refundable reaches low-income. Non-refundable excludes the poorest. 

 Refundable credits pay amounts beyond tax owed; non-refundable only reduce tax to zero. Refundable provides $1,500 refund; non-refundable only eliminates tax.

What is the difference between market income and disposable household income?

Core Concept: Pre-government vs. spending power.

Definition: Market = wages/salaries before intervention. Disposable adds transfers, subtracts taxes/expenses.

Example: $40K wages, $5K EITC, $3K SNAP, $6K taxes, $4K medical: market = $40K, disposable = $38K.

Significance: Poverty comparisons using only market ignore redistribution. Bottom quintile disposable = 200% market. Quintile's disposable is 200% of the market due to transfers.

Market income includes only wages before intervention. Disposable income adds transfers, then subtracts taxes, increasing the bottom quintile income to 200%  market.

What are the two ways that TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) changed the character of eligibility for public assistance?

Core Concept: Entitlement to time-limited, work-conditioned.

Definition: (1) 5-year lifetime limit, (2) work within 2 years.

Example: A Single mother works for 2 years. Loses eligibility after 5 years total.

Significance: Shifted from rights to temporary support, emphasizing individual responsibility.

TANF imposed five-year lifetime limits and required work within two years, shifting welfare from entitlement to temporary support, emphasizing individual responsibility.

In what two ways does the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) incentivize work effort?

Core Concept: Phase-in structure reduces poverty traps.

Definition: Phase-in adds $0.45 per dollar to $15K. Gradual phase-out avoids sudden loss.

Example: Single mother, 2 kids, earning $15K gets $6K EITC (40% boost).

Significance: Avoids poverty traps but subsidizes low-wage employers.

Phase-in adds $0.45 per dollar earned up to $15,000, making work attractive. Gradual phase-out avoids benefit cliffs. Single mothers receive approximately $6,000 EITC.

Did the conservative economist, Milton Friedman, support the provision of a guaranteed income through a negative income tax? What was his reason?

Core Concept: NIT as market-friendly alternative.

Definition: Friedman supported because: cash (maximizes choice), eliminates bureaucracy, through the tax system, is more efficient than multiple programs.

Example: Single NIT replaces separate food stamps, housing, childcare, and healthcare agencies.

Significance: Conservative embrace of guaranteed income as streamlining. Preference for cash over paternalistic in-kind.

Friedman supported NIT because it provided a cash-maximizing choice, eliminated welfare bureaucracy, and operated through tax systems, representing conservative preferences for cash.

Core Concept: Calculate differently, change poverty estimates.

Definition: OPM = pre-tax cash only. SPM adds in-kind, subtracts expenses.

Example: $25K wages, $5K SNAP, $3K EITC, $4K medical: OPM = $25K. SPM = $27K.

Significance: SPM shows programs work. Measurement is normative, not technical.

The Official Poverty Measure counts cash income only. Supplemental adds benefits and subtracts expenses, demonstrating that anti-poverty programs work.

How was the emergence of the welfare state seen from a Marxist perspective?

Core Concept: U.S. welfare is structurally distinct.

Definition: Emphasizes individual responsibility, market solutions. Relies on employer benefits and tax subsidies, creating "hidden welfare."

Example: Employer health insurance vs. European national systems. Mortgage deduction vs. public housing.

Significance: Reflects weak labor, racial divisions, federalism, and liberal ideology.

U.S. welfare emphasizes individual responsibility through employer benefits like health insurance, reflecting weak labor and racial divisions, unlike European systems.

Why has welfare sometimes been described as a “poverty trap?”

Core Concept: Benefit loss exceeds earnings.

Definition: Earning more causes benefit losses exceeding the increase. Multiple programs are phasing out compound effects.

Example: TANF recipient earns $1K, loses $500 TANF, $300 SNAP, $400 childcare = $200 loss (120% rate).

Significance: Means-testing creates disincentives.

Earning more causes benefit losses exceeding increases as multiple programs phase out. A TANF recipient earning one thousand dollars loses more in benefits than they gain.

What is the difference between social security systems based on defined benefits versus defined contributions?

Core Concept: Differ in calculation, who bears risks.

Definition: Defined Benefit promises specific benefits; the government bears risks. Defined Contribution uses individual accounts; individuals bear risks.

Example: Defined Benefit = Social Security wage formula. Defined Contribution = 401(k) depends on contributions/returns.

Significance: Defined Benefit provides security, fiscal pressure. Defined Contribution shifts risk, represents privatization.

Defined Benefit promises specific amounts with government bearing risk like Social Security; Defined Contribution uses individual accounts bearing risk like 401(k)s.

How do agency and structure explain the cause of poverty?

Core Concept: Individual choices vs. systemic constraints.

Definition: Agency = poverty from choices/behaviors. Structure = poverty from barriers like job scarcity, discrimination.

Example: Agency = "poor make bad choices." Structure = "deindustrialization eliminated jobs."

Significance: Causal theory determines policy. The agency requires behavioral change. Structure provides support.

Agency blames poverty on individual choices; structure blames systemic barriers like job scarcity and discrimination, determining whether policy requires behavioral change or expanded support. 

When it comes to education, conservative and progressive preferences tend to differ in regard to the nature of the social provision. Explain the difference and the reason for it.

Core Concept: Market choice vs. public equity.

Definition: Conservatives prefer vouchers for choice. Progressives favor public education for access.

Example: Conservative = vouchers for private schools. Progressive = public school funding.

Significance: Education as a commodity vs. a public good.

Conservatives prefer vouchers for school choice while progressives favor public education funding, reflecting education as a commodity versus a public good debate.

What are tax expenditures and who tends to benefit most from them?

Core Concept: Indirect spending through the tax code benefits higher earners.

Definition: Include deductions, credits, and exclusions (mortgage interest, employer insurance, EITC). Value tied to brackets.

Example: $15K mortgage interest saves $5,250 in 35% bracket vs. $1,800 in 12%.

Significance: Disproportionately benefits middle/upper income. Political invisibility enables less scrutiny.

Tax expenditures include deductions, credits, and exclusions with a value tied to brackets. Fifteen thousand dollar mortgage interest saves more in higher brackets, benefiting the upper income.

What conflicting objectives does a capitalist society deal with when mixing welfare services with the market economy?

Core Concept: Efficiency vs. equity tension.

Definition: Markets emphasize profit and choice for payers. Welfare emphasizes need and universal access.

Example: For-profit prisons maximize revenue, which conflicts with rehabilitation. Nursing homes cut care quality.

Significance: Welfare exists because markets fail to meet needs. Yet relies on markets creating contradictions.

Markets emphasize profit and choice while welfare emphasizes need and universal access. For-profit prisons maximize revenue, conflicting with rehabilitation in capitalist welfare.

How are preferences for cost-effectiveness versus social effectiveness reflected in conservative and progressive views of means-testing for social welfare benefits? 

Core Concept: Efficiency vs. solidarity tension.

Definition: Conservatives favor means-testing for cost-effectiveness. Progressives favor universal healthcare for social effectiveness, less stigma.

Example: Conservative = TANF means-tested. Progressive = Social Security universal.

Significance: "Programs for poor = poor programs." Means-testing creates a vulnerable two-tier system.

 Conservatives favor means-testing for cost-effectiveness; progressives favor universal programs for social effectiveness and less stigma, reflecting that programs for the poor become poor.

How was the development of the welfare state explained by the theory of technological determinism?

Core Concept: Industrialization predicts convergent welfare.

Definition: Industrialization creates common risks needing similar responses (Wilensky).

Example: All nations developed workers' comp, unemployment insurance, and pensions.

Significance: Explains similarities but not divergence. Downplays politics.

Industrialization creates common risks requiring similar responses, like workers' compensation and pensions, explaining welfare similarities but not divergence, downplaying politics.

How is the 1662 Law of Settlement reflected in today’s challenging social welfare policy dilemmas?

Core Concept: Residency requirements persist.

Definition: 1662 required residency proof. Modern = state residency, immigrant restrictions.

Example: States can't impose waiting periods (Saenz v. Roe). Immigrant debates reflect settlement logic.

Significance: Tensions over local vs. national responsibility, defining community membership.

The 1662 residency requirement persists in modern state residency rules and immigrant restrictions, creating tensions over local versus national responsibility.

What was the objective of the Speenhamland Act of 1795, and what were its outcomes according to most analysts?

Core Concept: Cautionary tale about wage subsidies.

Definition: The 1795 Act supplemented wages to bread-price minimums. Critics claimed depressed wages, discouraged work.

Example: Parish supplemented 6 shillings to 9 shillings by family size.

Significance: Modern scholarship debunks dependency. Shows how myths shape reforms.

The 1795 Act supplemented wages to bread-price minimums, allegedly depressing wages and discouraging work, though modern scholarship debunks dependency myths.

What is the difference between the institutional and the residual view of social welfare?

Core Concept: Competing welfare philosophies.

Definition: Institutional: welfare as a universal right. Residual: temporary safety net, means-tested.

Example: Social Security = institutional (universal). TANF = residual (means-tested, time-limited).

Significance: Determines design: universalism vs. selectivity, rights vs. charity. 

Institutional views welfare as a universal right while residual views it as a temporary, means-tested safety net. Social Security represents institutional; TANF represents residual welfare.

Technical monopoly and paternalism are two conditions used to justify government intervention in a capitalist society. Explain these conditions.

Core Concept: Market failures justifying intervention.

Definition: Technical monopoly = single producer, most efficient (utilities). Paternalism = protecting those unable to decide (children).

Example: PG&E regulates because competing grids are wasteful. Foster care for abused kids.

Significance: Justify intervention without presuming general market failure.

Technical monopoly means single producers are most efficient, like utilities, while paternalism protects those unable to decide, justifying intervention without presuming market failure.

What are two reasons that explain the gap between eligibility for and use of benefits or services?

Core Concept: Administrative barriers and stigma.

Definition: Complex applications, documentation, time costs, stigma, lack of info, transferability limits.

Example: SNAP 80% participation. 20% eligible don't participate.

Significance: Design creates barriers. Means-testing needs verification. Stigma self-enforces. 

Complex applications, documentation requirements, time costs, and stigma create barriers. SNAP shows 80% participation with 20% eligible not participating despite qualification.

Core Concept: Multiple financing channels.

Definition: (1) public expenditure, (2) mandated private, (3) tax expenditures, (4) voluntary private.

Example: Public = SNAP. Mandated = employer insurance. Tax = EITC. Voluntary = charity.

Significance: U.S. ranking changes dramatically when all are included.

The four sources are public expenditure, mandated private spending, tax expenditures, and voluntary private contributions, dramatically changing U.S. rankings when all are included.

Why is the most accurate measure of social welfare spending as a percentage of a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) a weak indicator of welfare state generosity?

Core Concept: Measures effort, not effectiveness.

Definition: Higher spending may reflect problems, not generosity. Ignores indirect spending and efficiency.

Example: 25% unemployment spends more than 5% unemployment.

Significance: Reveals problem severity as much as generosity.

Higher spending may reflect problems, not generosity, ignoring indirect spending and efficiency. Twenty-five percent of the unemployed spend more than five percent unemployed.

The US has been described as the stingiest welfare state based on the OECD gross measure of direct social spending. Is this correct? Why? 

Core Concept: "Stingy" label ignores hidden welfare.

Definition: Appears stingy at 18% GDP but higher, including tax breaks and employer benefits.

Example: Employer insurance ($300B) and EITC ($70B) not counted.

Significance: It obscures how mechanisms privilege the middle/upper classes through hidden subsidies.

 The U.S. appears stingy at 18% GDP but ranks higher including tax breaks and employer benefits, obscuring hidden welfare privileging middle and upper classes.

How can the regulatory power of government be used to provide a social welfare benefit?

Core Concept: Mandates and regulations, not spending.

Definition: Establishes protections (minimum wage), mandates benefits (employer insurance), and ensures access (fair housing).

Example: Minimum wage mandates a floor without spending. ACA mandates coverage.

Significance: Shifts costs to private actors. Rarely in spending measures.

Government mandates benefits through minimum wage and employer insurance without direct spending, shifting costs to private actors, rarely appearing in spending measures.

How did the welfare reform of 1996 affect the eligibility of documented immigrants arriving after 1996 for welfare benefits such as SSI, Food Stamps, and TANF?

Core Concept: 1996 restricted immigrant benefits.

Precise Definition: PRWORA barred post-1996 immigrants from SSI, Food Stamps, and TANF for 5 years.

Concrete Example: Legal immigrants are ineligible for federal benefits for 5 years. States decide on alternatives.

Analytical Significance: Encoded deservingness by citizenship. Reinforced conditionality.

PRWORA barred post-1996 immigrants from SSI, Food Stamps, and TANF for five years, encoding deservingness by citizenship and reinforcing benefit conditionality.

What were the economic developments during the periods of growth and maturation of the US welfare state?

Core Concept: Crises and prosperity drove expansion/retrenchment.

Definition: New Deal (1935) from the Depression. War on Poverty (1960s-70s) doubled spending. The 1990s emphasized markets.

Example: 1965-1975 created Medicare/Medicaid. By 1996, benefits exceeded minimum wage.

Significance: Growth wasn't continuous. Included retrenchment when values shifted.

Under the 1972 amendments to the Social Security Act, which three categories of public assistance programs were consolidated under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program?

Core Concept: Federalized aged/disabled assistance.

Definition: (1) Old-Age Assistance, (2) Aid to the Blind, (3) Aid to the Disabled.

Example: The Elderly got varying state benefits pre-1972, standardized federal SSI after.

Significance: Created uniformity for "deserving poor." Family aid stayed state-controlled.

SSI consolidated Old-Age Assistance, Aid to the Blind, and Aid to the Disabled, creating uniformity for deserving poor, while family aid stayed state-controlled.

Some people say that welfare can create a moral hazard in that welfare benefits may sometimes provide an incentive for the very circumstances they are seeking to ameliorate. What is an example?

Core Concept: Welfare may reduce work incentives.

Definition: Provides income without work, potentially discouraging employment.

Example: Speenhamland let employers pay below subsistence. Critics say unemployment insurance discourages job search.

Significance: Justifies work requirements despite limited evidence. Ignores structural unemployment.

 Welfare provides income without work, potentially discouraging employment. Speenhamland enabled below-subsistence wages, justifying work requirements despite limited evidence about structural unemployment.

What are the three characteristics on which the earned income tax credit is calculated?

Core Concept: Income, children, marital status.

Definition: (1) earned income level (phase-in/out), (2) qualifying children (more = higher), (3) marital status (affects thresholds).

Example: Single, 2 kids, $15K = ~$6K max. Married, 3 kids = higher max.

Significance: Incentivizes work, child-rearing, and affects marriage. Minimal for childless shows encoded family values.

EITC calculates based on earned income level with phase-in and phase-out, qualifying children where more equals higher credits, and marital status affecting thresholds and family values.

How does life expectancy affect how different groups benefit from social security?

Core Concept: Differential mortality creates regressive redistribution.

Definition: Longer-lived collect more years. Women outlive men by 5 years. Whites outlive Blacks by 4-5 years. The wealthy outlive the poor.

Example: White woman (81) collects 16 years vs. Black man (72) collects 7 years at 65.

Significance: Transfers from Black men to white women, poor to rich. Opposite progressive intent.

Longer-lived collect more years. White women collect sixteen years versus Black men's seven years, transferring from Black men to white women.

Under the US social security system, how is the dependent’s benefit calculated, and to whom is it unfair?

Core Concept: Disadvantages of two-earner couples.

Definition: Primary gets benefit from earnings. Non-working spouse gets 50% additional regardless. Unfair to two-earner singles.

Example: One earner $50K = $2,655 total. Two earners $25K each = $2,240.

Significance: The 1930s breadwinner model disadvantages the dual-earner. Rewards the affluent single-earner over the working-class dual.

Primary earner gets benefit from earnings; non-working spouse gets 50% additional regardless, disadvantaging dual-earner couples earning similar totals as single-earner couples.

In the cash versus care debate, why are some feminist groups are opposed to the cash option?

Core Concept: Fears reinforce gender roles.

Definition: Reinforces women as caregivers. Reduces labor force attachment. Rolls back equality gains.

Example: Germany's cash-for-care opposed fearing reduced women's employment.

Significance: Tensions between valuing care work and promoting labor participation.

Feminists oppose cash, fearing reinforcement of women as caregivers, reducing labor force attachment, rolling back equality gains, and creating tensions between valuing care work.

How did the responses to COVID 19 impact the future prospects of public education?

Core Concept: Exposed inequalities, accelerated debates.

Definition: Remote learning exposed the digital divide. Closures revealed the childcare role.

Example: Low-income students without internet fell behind. Parents struggled without childcare.

Significance: Revealed multiple functions. May accelerate privatization or strengthen recognition.

Remote learning exposed the digital divide; closures revealed childcare roles. Low-income students fell behind, potentially accelerating privatization or strengthening public education recognition.

What is the thesis of American exceptionalism as it applies to the modern welfare state?

Core Concept: U.S. welfare is structurally distinct.

Definition: Emphasizes individual responsibility, market solutions. Relies on employer benefits and tax subsidies, creating "hidden welfare."

Example: Employer health insurance vs. European national systems. Mortgage deduction vs. public housing.

Significance: Reflects weak labor, racial divisions, federalism, and liberal ideology.

U.S. welfare emphasizes individual responsibility through employer benefits and tax subsidies, creating hidden welfare, reflecting weak labor, racial divisions, federalism, and liberal ideology.

Two reasons why a fundamental understanding of social welfare policy is important for direct service social workers?

Core Concept: Policy literacy enables practice and advocacy.

Definition: Understanding eligibility secures client resources. Recognizing policy values enables systemic advocacy.

Example: Workers need SNAP criteria and tax credit knowledge. Work requirements show deservingness judgments.

Significance: Transforms workers into change agents, challenging structural barriers.

Understanding eligibility secures client resources; recognizing policy values enables systemic advocacy, transforming workers into change agents who challenge structural barriers in practice.

What are the three social protection goals for the welfare state and the three forms of social welfare policy that correspond to these goals?

Core Concept: Distinct needs, corresponding programs.

Definition: (1) Economic security via social insurance (Social Security), (2) material sufficiency via public assistance (SNAP), (3) service access via universal programs (education).

Example: Social Security = insurance. SNAP = means-tested. Medicaid = healthcare access.

Significance: Different goals justify different designs.

Economic security via social insurance like Social Security, material sufficiency via public assistance like SNAP, and service access via universal education represent distinct goals.

What is the difference between the meritarian and the egalitarian views of distributive justice?

Core Concept: Identical treatment vs. proportional distribution.

Definition: Egalitarian = numerical equality (everyone same). Meritarian = proportional equality (merit/contribution).

Example: Egalitarian = UBI same for all. Meritarian = Social Security more for higher earners, grades by performance.

Significance: Most debates involve proportional bases. Meritarian uses equality vocabulary for inequality.

Egalitarian means numerical equality with identical treatment; meritarian means proportional equality based on merit or contribution, with most debates involving proportional distribution bases.

What is the difference between compensation and diagnostic differentiation as principles for allocating social welfare benefits?

Core Concept: Different allocation principles.

Definition: Compensation = based on harm needing redress. Diagnostic = based on categories without addressing inequality.

Example: Compensation = extra for low-income students. Diagnostic = special ed regardless of income.

Significance: Compensation embodies egalitarian commitments. Diagnosis can maintain inequality.

Compensation is allocated based on harm needing redress, like extra low-income resources; diagnostic allocations by categories without addressing inequality, like special education, regardless.

Why is the trend toward assortative mating likely to increase income inequality?

Core Concept: Concentrates household income.

Definition: People partner with similar education/economic status. Doctors marry doctors, not nurses.

Example: 1960s: doctor ($150K) + nurse ($40K) = $190K. 2020s: two doctors ($200K) = $400K vs. two retail ($30K) = $60K.

Significance: Amplifies individual-to-household inequality. Children get compounding advantages.

People partner with similar education and economic status. Two doctors earn $400K versus two retail workers earn $60K, amplifying household inequality and children's advantages.

What is the difference between a Universal Basic Income and a Negative Income Tax that provides a guaranteed annual income?

Core Concept: Both provide income floors; they differ in universality.

Definition: UBI pays all unconditionally. NIT pays through tax only below thresholds.

Example: UBI = everyone $15K. NIT = only under $30K earners.

Significance: UBI eliminates stigma, requires a massive tax. NIT targets efficiently, excludes non-filers.

UBI pays everyone unconditionally; NIT pays through tax only below thresholds. UBI eliminates stigma but requires massive taxation; NIT targets efficiently but excludes non-filers.

What are three differences between the characteristics of those in the top income quintile and the bottom income quintile?

Core Concept: Demographics reflect life-cycle, household structure.

Definition: (1) household size, top 87% more people, (2) employment, 75% top have 2+ earners vs. 60% bottom have zero, (3) age, bottom = students/elderly, top = prime working-age.

Example: Bottom = 22-year-old student earning $15K. Top = 45-year-old couple earning $180K.

Significance: Snapshot misleads without a life-cycle view. Many bottom move up.

The top quintile has larger households, 75% have two-plus earners, versus 60% bottom quintile have zero; the top includes prime working-age while the bottom includes students and the elderly. 

What are two of the reasons to be skeptical about what the official U.S. measure of poverty is measuring?

Core Concept: Conceptual and empirical limitations.

Definition: (1) excludes in-kind (~$1T), (2) outdated formula, (3) consumption shows bottom spends 200% reported, (4) ignores geography.

Example: $25K wages + $6K SNAP + $10K Medicaid appears poor because OPM counts only $25K.

Significance: Measurement determines policy. Overstating may justify excessive spending. Measurement is normative.

Official measure excludes in-kind benefits, uses an outdated formula, and ignores geography. Consumption shows bottom spends 200% of reported income, making measurement inherently normative.