Welfare work Requirements with Paternalistic Government Preferences

Work requirements in means-tested transfer programmes have grown in importance in the US and in some other countries. The theoretical literature which considers their possible optimality generally operates within a traditional welfarist framework where some function of the utility of the poor is maximised. Here we consider a case where society instead has preferences over the actual work allocations of welfare recipients. Optimality of work requirements is shown to be possible but depends on the accuracy of the screening mechanism which assigns work requirements. Numerical simulations show that accuracy must be high for optimality. Earnings subsidies may also be optimal. Copyright 2006 The Author(s). Journal compilation Royal Economic Society 2006

Earnings · Economics · Function (biology · Government (linguistics · Microeconomics · Paternalism · Public economics · Subsidy · Welfare · Work (physics · Computer Science · Engineering · Finance · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Taxation and Compliance Studies

• Cash Transfers for Poverty Alleviation Under Double Asymmetric Information Regarding Income and Productivity

  Open Access•Yui Nakamura•Poverty & Public Policy•2014

  Añadir item

• Coase Lecture—Human Capital, Inequality and Tax Reform

  Open Access•Richard Blundell•Economica•2016

  Añadir item

• On the Gains from Tradable Benefits‐in‐kind

  Open Access•Martin Ravallion•Economica•2022

  Añadir item

• Optimal Income Taxation of Lone Mothers

  Open Access•Richard Blundell, Mike Brewer et al.•The Economic Journal•2009

  Añadir item

• An Economic History of the English Poor Law, 1750–1850

  Open Access•George R Boyer•Economic History of the English…•1990

  Añadir item

• Optimal Income Transfer Programs

  Emmanuel Saez•The Quarterly Journal of Economics•2002

  Añadir item

• An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation

  James A Mirrlees•The Review of Economic Studies•1971

  Añadir item

• The economics of “tagging” as applied to the optimal income tax, welfare programs, and manpower planning

  Open Access•George A Akerlof•Economic Theorist's Book of Tales•1984

  Añadir item

• A Structural Model of Multiple Welfare Program Participation and Labor Supply

  Michael P Keane, Michael Keane et al.•International Economic Review•1998

  Añadir item

• The Negative Income Tax and the Evolution of U.S. Welfare Policy

  Open Access•Robert Moffitt, Robert A Moffitt•The Journal of Economic…•2003

  Añadir item

• Integrating Income Maintenance Programs

  Kirsten A Gronbjerg, Irene Lurie•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1976

  Añadir item

• The New World of Welfare

  Vicky Albert, Rebecca M Blank et al.•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•2002

  Añadir item

• Redistribution and the Welfare System

  Jonathan R Kesselman, Edgar K Browning•Industrial and Labor Relations…•1976

  Añadir item