The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States

by Jacob S. Hacker

• ISBN13: 9780521013284
• ISBN10: 0521013283
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Divided Welfare State is the first comprehensive political analysis of America's system of public and private social benefits. Everyone knows that the American welfare state is less expensive and extensive, later to develop and slower to grow, than comparable programs abroad. American social spending is as high as spending in many European nations. What is distinctive is that so many social welfare duties are handled by the private sector with government support. With historical reach and statistical and cross-national evidence, The Divided Welfare State demonstrates that private social benefits have not been shaped by public policy, but have deeply influenced the politics of public social programs - to produce a social policy framework whose political and social effects are strikingly different than often assumed. At a time of fierce new debates about social policy, this book is essential to understanding the roots of America's distinctive model and its future possibilities.

Author Biography

Jacob S. Hacker is Peter Strauss Family Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	vii
List of Figures	ix
Preface	xi
Part I: The American Welfare Regime
Introduction: American Exceptionalism Revisited	5	(23)
The Politics of Public and Private Social Benefits	28	(57)
Part II: The Politics of Public and Private Pensions
Introduction	71	(14)
Connected at Birth: Public and Private Pensions Before 1945	85	(39)
Sibling Rivalry: Public and Private Pensions After 1945	124	(97)
Part III: The Politics of Public and Private Health Insurance
Introduction	179	(42)
Seeds of Exceptionalism: Public and Private Health Insurance Before 1945	221	(1)
The Elusive Cure: Public and Private Health Insurance After 1945	221	(54)
Part IV: The Formation and Future of the American Welfare Regime
The Formation of the American Welfare Regime	275	(38)
The Future of the American Welfare Regime	313	(24)
Appendix	337	(4)
Notes	341	(94)
Index	435