Is the welfare state justified?

Daniel Shapiro9780521860659, 0521860652, 0521677939, 9780521677936

This is a marvelous, unusual book. It’s one of the few attempts in political philosophy that go beyond examining what principles of justice require, by investigating whether contemporary institutions designed to produce those outcomes actually do better than realistic alternatives. I suspect it will have a large audience not only among normative political theorists, who will find stimulating its challenges to welfare state institutions they have taken for granted, but among policy analysts and public-administration specialists with a reflective bent. It’s a fresh and welcome approach to political theory that could prompt a long-overdue movement to bring theory out of the clouds.

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Table of contents :
Cover……Page 1
Half-title……Page 3
Dedication……Page 4
Title……Page 5
Copyright……Page 6
Contents……Page 7
Preface……Page 9
1 Introduction……Page 15
1.1 Justification in Political Philosophy……Page 16
1.2 Internal Versus External Arguments……Page 22
1.3.1 Social Insurance and Means-tested Benefits……Page 24
1.3.2 Narrow Versus Broad Definitions of the Welfare State……Page 26
1.3.3 Choosing the Relevant Market Alternatives……Page 27
1.4 Coming Attractions……Page 29
2 Central Perspectives in Political Philosophy……Page 30
2.1.1 Egalitarianism, Strictly Speaking……Page 31
2.1.2 The Priority View, an Egalitarian Cousin……Page 36
2.1.3 An Additional Terminological Complication……Page 38
2.2 Basic Rights, Liberty, and Well-Being……Page 39
2.3 Community and Solidarity……Page 42
2.4 Public Justification and Epistemic Accessibility……Page 46
3.1 The Topic’s Importance……Page 49
3.2.1 National Health Insurance……Page 50
3.2.2 Market Health Insurance: What It Is Not……Page 56
3.2.3 What Market Health Insurance Would Look Like……Page 67
3.3.1 Daniels and Fair Equality of Opportunity……Page 72
3.3.2 Dworkin and the Results of an Ideal, Fair Market……Page 76
3.4.1 Health Risks……Page 81
3.4.2 Choice in Health Plans……Page 93
3.5 Rationing, Visibility, and Egalitarian Outcomes: Why Market Allocation Is Better……Page 95
3.5.1 The Egalitarian Criteria for Fair Rationing……Page 96
3.5.2 Visibility and Rationing……Page 99
3.5.3 Avoiding Inegalitarian Outcomes……Page 111
3.6 Why the Priority View Agrees with the Egalitarian Support of MHI……Page 120
Appendix A: Addiction, Health Risks, and Voluntariness……Page 126
4.1.1 The Content of the Right……Page 129
4.1.2 The Grounds of the Right to Health Care……Page 139
4.2 Health Care and Communitarianism……Page 147
4.2.1 Walzer’s Argument……Page 148
4.2.2 Emanuel’s Argument……Page 150
4.2.3 Why Communitarians Should Favor MHI……Page 155
4.3 Public Justification, Information, and Rationing……Page 159
4.4 Conclusion : The Reasons for MHI’s Superiority……Page 162
5.1 Introduction……Page 165
5.2.1 The Central Features of SS……Page 166
5.2.2 The Early Stage of PAYGO……Page 170
5.2.3 The Later or Mature Stage of PAYGO……Page 172
5.2.4 Redistributive Effects of SS……Page 175
5.2.5 Private Pensions……Page 177
5.2.6 Mixed Systems……Page 181
5.3 Egalitarianism, Fairness, and Retirement Pensions……Page 183
5.4 Positive Rights and Security……Page 191
5.5 Community, Solidarity, and Pension Systems……Page 198
5.6 Public Justification, Epistemic Accessibility, and the Superiority of Private Pensions……Page 204
5.7 Conclusion……Page 207
Appendix B: Comparing PAYGO’s Rate of Return with a CPP System……Page 208
6.1 Introduction……Page 212
6.2 Different Kinds of State Welfare……Page 213
6.3 Nongovernmental Aid……Page 215
6.4.1 Coercive Versus Voluntary Transfers : The “Donors”……Page 218
6.4.2 Coercive Versus Voluntary Transfers: The Recipients……Page 227
6.4.3 Conditional Versus Unconditional Aid……Page 229
6.4.4 Conditional Aid: Comparing the Alternatives……Page 236
6.5 Why Prioritarianism Agrees with Egalitarianism about Welfare Policy……Page 246
6.6 Will Private Charity Be Enough?……Page 247
Appendix C: Mutual Aid or Friendly Societies……Page 255
7.1.1 The Content of the Right……Page 257
7.1.2 The Grounds of the Right……Page 261
7.1.3 Sterba’s Argument……Page 269
7.1.4 Why Sterba’s Argument Fails……Page 273
7.2.1 Communitarian Arguments for Conditional Aid……Page 280
7.2.2 The Uneasy Communitarian Case for State Conditional Welfare……Page 286
7.3 Public Justification, Epistemic Accessibility, and Welfare……Page 288
7.4 Conclusion: The Uncertain Choice between State and Private Conditional Aid……Page 290
8.1 Introduction……Page 294
8.2 The Problems with SS and the Transition Problem……Page 296
8.3 The Cato Plan……Page 300
8.4 The Brookings Plan……Page 303
8.5 Comparing the Two Plans……Page 306
8.6 Where Things Stand……Page 310
Select Bibliography……Page 313
Index……Page 325