National Welfare Policy Research Articles

The Capitalist State and the Origins of National Welfare Policy in Nineteenth-Century Germany

Historians and sociologists point to the Bismarckian welfare reforms as the prime example of a strong state acting independently of class interests. Explanations of this sort ignore the class biases and contradictions embedded in the structure and functioning of the nineteenth-century German state. The class compromises between the industrial and agricultural fractions of capital as well as class conflicts between capitalists and workers were institutionalized within the state. The shape of the national welfare reforms can be understood as the outcome of protracted struggles and unstable compromises between a state-organized power bloc and a state-disorganized petty bourgeoisie. The theoretical insights of Nicos Poulantzas serve as a partial guide to this attempt to "being class back into" analyses of the policy making activities of capitalist states.

Prior Geographic Mobility and Job Search Length

The effect of previous geographic mobility on the length of an unemployed person's job search in the United States is examined. "This study proposed that knowledge of regional wage differentials and other market conditions give a worker with prior geographic mobility experience a better stock of information than one who has worked all of his or her work life in the same geographical location. It is proposed that this superior stock of information has a significant impact on the amount of time it takes an unemployed worker to locate and accept a job." Data are from the 1981 Panel Study of Income Dynamics.

Welfare and Work in Israel: A Case Study

The Protestant ethic deeply rooted in American society exemplified the relationship between work and welfare. Social welfare policy in Israel has also been influenced by social, political, and religious movements. The strong tie between work and welfare is a consequence of this. Present-day social welfare policy in Israel has its roots in the formative years of the nation, very much as American welfare policy is grounded in the values of the past. This paper focuses on the development of the ideological and philosophical roots of the work ethic in Israel, its influence on the social services in the period before statehood, and its consequences for welfare policy in the period after statehood, where it is reflected in the major trends of the national insurances and welfare policies up to the present.

Toward Development of a National Urban Growth Policy: Legislative Review 1971

Abstract This review of the 1971 congressional and executive branch actions of concern to the planning profession uses the declaration of a national urban growth policy as its organizing framework. Federal initiatives in a number of new subject areas reflect the increased appreciation of the impact on urban growth of such programs and developments as health care delivery systems, metropolitan educational parks, housing scandals, rural growth centers, uniform national welfare policies, new public credit sources, the linkage of planning and public management, and consolidation and decentralization of federal decision-making machinery. The jigsaw puzzle of urban growth policy has not yet been solved, but most of the pieces are now out on the table.

A Call for a National Welfare Policy

A Call for a National Welfare Policy