DP1018 What is the Domain of the Welfare State?

Author(s):	Dennis J. Snower
Publication Date:	November 1994
Keyword(s):	Education, Free Enterprise, Health, Inequality, Poverty, Unemployment, Welfare State
JEL(s):	H1, H2, H4, I1, I2, I3, P5
Programme Areas:	Human Resources
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=1018

The paper examines the appropriate domain of the Welfare State by exploring the areas in which free enterprise fails to provide adequate welfare state services. The paper outlines a simple coherent strategy for formulating government welfare state policy by identifying the relevant market failures, government failures, and implementation costs. Two proposals for reform of the Welfare State are outlined.