The American welfare state is not as different from the European welfare state as conventional wisdom would have it. If we define the welfare state as that part of the state (the whole apparatus of government at all levels) devoted to taking charge of the welfare of the public, welfare-state functions cover social protection (which includes public pensions), health, and education. As shown in Table 1, these functions make up 57 percent of total U.S. government expenditures compared to 63 percent for the typical eurozone country.1 In this sense, the American welfare state is only about 10 percent smaller than the European welfare state.
By Pierre Lemieux
Read Full: Cato Journal, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Spring/Summer 2013).
