Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of DifferenceAs events highlight deep divisions in attitudes between America and Europe, this is a very timely study of different approaches to the problems of domestic inequality and poverty. Based on careful and systematic analysis of national data, the authors describe just how much the two continents differ in their level of State engagement in the redistribution of income. Discussing various possible economic explanations for the difference, they cover different levels of pre-tax income, openness, and social mobility; they survey politico-historical differences such as the varying physical size of nations, their electoral and legal systems, and the character of their political parties, as well as their experiences of war; and they examine sociological explanations, which include different attitudes to the poor and notions of social responsibility. Most importantly, they address attitudes to race, calculating that attitudes to race explain half the observed difference in levels of public redistribution of income. This important and provocative analysis will captivate academic and serious lay readers in economics and welfare systems. |
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Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference Alberto Alesina,Edward Glaeser Limited preview - 2004 |
Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference Alberto Alesina,Edward Glaeser No preview available - 2005 |
Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe : A World of Difference: A World of ... Alberto Alesina,Edward Glaeser No preview available - 2004 |
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Alesina American argued army Austria average Belgium beliefs believe that luck benefits blacks century constitution correlation Democrats Denmark differences dominant economic elected electoral ethnic European countries European Union evidence explain favor federal Finland France Germany groups hatred homogeneous House of Lords ideology immigrants income inequality income mobility income quintile Italy labor market labor movement left-wing less level of redistribution luck determines income measure median voter military Netherlands OECD OECD countries pension systems percent politicians poor are lazy poor are trapped population Populists poverty pre-tax income programs proportional representation quartile race racial fractionalization racial heterogeneity redistributive policies reform relatively Republican result retirement rich right-wing risk averse social mobility social security social spending socialist party society southern Spain strikes success Supreme Court survey Sweden Switzerland tion transfers unions United Kingdom uprisings variables wage welfare spending workers World World Values Survey