welfare capitalism

Examples of welfare capitalism in the following topics:

• Welfare State Capitalism

  • Welfare capitalism refers to a welfare state in a capitalist economic system or to businesses providing welfare-like services to employees.
  • However, even at the peak of this form of welfare capitalism, not all workers enjoyed the same benefits.
  • Business-led welfare capitalism was only common in American industries that employed skilled labor.
  • This is an example of welfare capitalism in that it involves a business providing for its employees.
  • Discuss how welfare capitalism impacts the worker and the business, in terms of costs and benefits for both

• History of the Welfare State

  • Marshall identified the welfare state as a distinctive combination of democracy, welfare and capitalism.
  • The United Kingdom, as a modern welfare state, started to emerge with the Liberal welfare reforms of 1906–1914 under Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith .
  • Roosevelt's New Deal welfare state policies of the 1930s.
  • Marshall identified the welfare state as a distinctive combination of democracy, welfare and capitalism.
  • The United Kingdom, as a modern welfare state, started to emerge with the Liberal welfare reforms of 1906–1914 under Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith.

• Promoting the General Welfare

  • Article IV of the Constitution of Massachusetts provides authority for the state to make laws "as they shall judge to be for the good and welfare of this commonwealth. " The actual phrase "general welfare" appears only in Article CXVI, which permits the imposition of capital punishment for "the purpose of protecting the general welfare of the citizens. "
  • There have been different interpretations of the meaning of the General Welfare clause.
  • General Welfare clause arises from two distinct disagreements: The first concerns whether the General Welfare clause grants an independent spending power or is a restriction upon the taxing power; the second disagreement pertains to what exactly is meant by the phrase "general welfare. "
  • Similarly, Article IV of the Constitution of Massachusetts provides authority for the state to make laws "as they shall judge to be for the good and welfare of this commonwealth. " The actual phrase "general welfare" appears only in Article CXVI, which permits the imposition of capital punishment for "the purpose of protecting the general welfare of the citizens. "
  • Illustrate how the General Welfare clause of the Constitution is applied to public policy

• Foundations of the Welfare State

  • In 2002, total U.S. social welfare expenditure constitutes roughly 35% of GDP, with purely public expenditure constituting 21%, publicly supported but privately provided welfare services constituting 10% of GDP and purely private services constituting 4% of GDP.
  • Examples of the Liberal welfare state include Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and the United States.
  • Unlike welfare states built on social democracy foundations it was not designed to promote a redistribution of political power from capital to labor; nor was it designed to mediate class struggle.
  • This compared to France and Sweden whose welfare spending ranges from 30% to 35% of GDP.
  • Compare and contrast the social-democratic welfare state, the Christian-democratic welfare state and the liberal welfare state

• The Disadvantages of Mixed Economies

  • In contemporary terms, "social democracy" usually refers to a social corporatist arrangement and a welfare state in developed capitalist economies.
  • Marxian socialists argue that because social democratic programs retain the capitalist mode of production they also retain the fundamental issues of capitalism, including cyclical fluctuations, exploitation and alienation.
  • Social democratic programs intended to ameliorate capitalism, such as unemployment benefits or taxation on profits and the wealthy, create contradictions of their own through limiting the efficiency of the capitalist system by reducing incentives for capitalists to invest in production.
  • Others contrast social democracy with democratic socialism by defining the former as an attempt to strengthen the welfare state and the latter as an alternative socialist economic system to capitalism.
  • The democratic socialist critique of social democracy states that capitalism could never be sufficiently "humanized" and any attempt to suppress the economic contradictions of capitalism would only cause them to emerge elsewhere.

• A Halfway Revolution

  • In 2002, total U.S. social welfare expenditure constitutes roughly 35% of GDP, with purely public expenditure constituting 21%, publicly supported but privately provided welfare services constituting 10% of GDP, and purely private services constituting 4% of GDP.
  • This compared to France and Sweden with welfare spending ranges from 30% to 35% of GDP.
  • The American welfare state was designed to address market shortcomings and do what private enterprises cannot or will not do themselves.
  • Unlike welfare states built on social democracy foundations, the United State's welfare state was not designed to promote a redistribution of political power from capital to labor; nor was it designed to mediate class struggle.
  • The welfare state, whether through charitable redistribution or regulation that favors smaller players, is motivated by reciprocal altruism.

• Evaluating GDP as a Measure of the Economy

  • "Economic welfare cannot be adequately measured unless the personal distribution of income is known.
  • The welfare of a nation can, therefore, scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income. "
  • The sensitivities related to social welfare has continued the argument specific to the use of GDP as a economic growth or progress metric.
  • Austrian School economist Frank Shostak has noted: "The GDP framework cannot tell us whether final goods and services that were produced during a particular period of time are a reflection of real wealth expansion, or a reflection of capital consumption.
  • However, a qualitative assessment would likely value the latter country compared to the former on a welfare or quality of life basis .

• Mixed Economies

  • Social market economy is the economic policy of modern Germany that steers a middle path between the goals of socialism and capitalism within the framework of a private market economy and aims at maintaining a balance between a high rate of economic growth, low inflation, low levels of unemployment, good working conditions, public welfare and public services by using state intervention.
  • Profit-seeking enterprises and the accumulation of capital would remain the fundamental driving force behind economic activity.
  • However, the government would wield considerable indirect influence over the economy through fiscal and monetary policies designed to counteract economic downturns and capitalism's tendency toward financial crises and unemployment, along with playing a role in interventions that promote social welfare.
  • The term is also used to describe the economies of countries which are referred to as welfare states, such as Norway and Sweden.
  • Supporters view mixed economies as a compromise between state socialism and laissez-faire capitalism that is superior in net effect to either of those.

• Welfare Reform

  • Welfare reform has attempted many times to remove welfare altogether by promoting self-sufficiency, but has been unsuccessful in this regard thus far.
  • Welfare reform refers to improving how a nation helps those citizens in poverty.
  • Before the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, welfare assistance was "once considered an open-ended right," but welfare reform converted it "into a finite program built to provide short-term cash assistance and steer people quickly into jobs. " Prior to reform, states were given "limitless" money by the federal government, increasing per family on welfare, under the 60-year-old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program.
  • This gave states no incentive to direct welfare funds to the neediest recipients or to encourage individuals to go off welfare benefits (the state lost federal money when someone left the system).
  • Describe the features of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 under President Bill Clinton

• Personal Income

  • Personal income also includes income received by nonprofit institutions serving households, by private non-insured welfare funds, and by private trust funds.
  • Income from production is generated both by the labor of individuals (for example, in the form of wages and salaries and of proprietors' income) and by the capital that they own (in the form of rental income of persons).
  • Income that is not earned from production in the current period—such as capital gains, which relate to changes in the price of assets over time—is excluded.