Alberto Alesina|Edward L. Glaeser|Burce Sacerdote
Why Doesn't the United States Have a European-Style Welfare State?
europeanstyle welfare stateeuropean governments redistribute income among citizens much larger scale us governmenteuropean social programs generous reach larger share citizenseuropean tax systems progressiveeuropean regulations designed protect poor intrusivein paper try understand whythe literature size government rich variedhowever focus size government rather redistributive side government policiesthus goal one sense narrower answering question explains size governmentsince focus single increasingly important role fiscal policyyet another sense focus broader redistributive policies go beyond government budgetthink instance labor market policieswe consider economic political behavioral explanations differences united states europeeconomic explanations focus variance income skewness income distribution taxes transfers social costs taxation volatility income expected changes income median voterwe conclude theories cannot explain observed differenceswe grateful discussants useful suggestions