The Uncertain Quest for Welfare Rights
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Description
The growth of government is an oft-told tale, and nowhere is that growth more pronounced than in the expansion of government transfers of money, goods, and services to persons in need. These transfers rest on the presupposition that all individuals have a right to personal welfare. This asserted welfare right is typically defined as the right to receive "any form of assistance—monetary payment, good, or service—provided to an individual because of his or her need." The definition does not resolve in all concrete cases. It is often difficult to determine in individual cases whether a payment is a pure transfer payment, as opposed to compensation for services rendered, or a payment under a scheme of social insurance, in which the transferee has previously paid market value for the benefits received. These questions of classification, while important, should not be allowed to conceal the historical trend. Today, transfer payments encompass a large array of programs, including aid for dependent children, food stamps, medicaid, jobs, and housing allowances, and have become a staple of American life. In the short run it is possible to detect decreases in the level of government transfer payments, as some of the Reagan administration's cuts since 1981 reflect. But the long-run growth of government transfer programs of all sizes and descriptions remains one of the major developments of the post-World War II period.
Source Publication
Constitutionalism and Rights
Source Editors/Authors
Gary C. Bryner, Noel B. Reynolds
Publication Date
1987
Recommended Citation
Epstein, Richard A., "The Uncertain Quest for Welfare Rights" (1987). Faculty Chapters. 416.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/416
