[PEN-L:29924] Re: universal welfare accounts

[Joel Blau <jblau@xxxxxxxxx>]

A comprehensive welfare account is rather similar to the IDAs (individual
development accounts) that have been tried in the US. Clinton actually proposed
an expansion of them in his final state of the union address.  Here, they
are
closely associated with the work of Michael Sheradeen at Washington University
in St. Louis. The basic idea is that an individual saves a little, and the
government
matches it at ratios that vary from 9-1 (the theory) to 2-1 (the actual practice
so far). The
money can then be spent on tuition, a downpayment on a house, or starting
a business.,etc
It is very much an individualistic, human capital investment approach,  which
substitutes
one person's failure to save for an udnerstanding based on relations between
classes.

Joel Blau


 

ken hanly wrote:
> Is this a new trend? What are pen's economists take on this..
> Can you explain how they work a bit?
>
> Cheers, Ken Hanly
>
> > "Assessing Welfare Accounts"
> >
> >       BY:  STEFAN FOELSTER
> >               Confederation of Swedish Enterprise
> >               Swedish Research Institute of Trade (HUI)
> >            ROBERT GIDEHAG
> >               Swedish Research Institute of Trade (HUI)
> >            J. MICHAEL ORSZAG
> >               Watson Wyatt Worldwide
> >               Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
> >            DENNIS J. SNOWER
> >               University of London, Birkbeck College
> >               Department of Economics and Finance
> >               Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
> >               Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
> >
> > Document:  Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
> >            http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=325326
> >
> >            Other Electronic Document Delivery:
> >            ftp://ftp.iza.org/dps/dp533.pdf
> >            SSRN only offers technical support for papers
> >            downloaded from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection
> >            location. When URLs wrap, you must copy and paste
> >            them into your browser eliminating all spaces.
> >
> > Paper ID:  IZA Discussion Paper No. 533
> >     Date:  July 2002
> >
> >  Contact:  DENNIS J. SNOWER
> >    Email:  Mailto:dsnower@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >   Postal:  University of London, Birkbeck College
> >            Department of Economics and Finance
> >            7-15 Gresse Street
> >            London WIT 1LL,    UNITED KINGDOM
> >    Phone:  +44 171 631 6408
> >      Fax:  +44 171 631 6416
> >  Co-Auth:  STEFAN FOELSTER
> >    Email:  Mailto:stefan.folster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<
> > br>  Postal:  Confederation of Swedish Enterprise
> >            Storgatan 19
> >            SE-114 82 Stockholm,    SWEDEN
> >  Co-Auth:  ROBERT GIDEHAG
> >    Email:  Mailto:robert.gidehag@xxxxxx
> >   Postal:  Swedish Research Institute of Trade (HUI)
> >            S-103 29 Stockholm,    SWEDEN
> >  Co-Auth:  J. MICHAEL ORSZAG
> >    Email:  Mailto:Michael.Orszag@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >   Postal:  Watson Wyatt Worldwide
> >            6707 Democracy Boulevard Suite 800
> >            Bethesda, MD 20817-1129  UNITED STATES
> >
> > ABSTRACT:
> >  The paper examines the possible effects of introducing a
> >  large-scale welfare reform in Sweden, namely, the introduction
> >  of comprehensive welfare accounts. Under this policy,
> >  individuals make mandatory contributions to accounts, which they
> >  can top up with voluntary contributi
> > ons. In return, individuals'
> >  welfare benefits are paid from their accounts. The paper uses a
> >  large panel of individual income data to examine how the
> >  adoption of universal welfare accounts may affect economic
> >  activity. We find that this policy could be designed so as to
> >  reduce social insurance expenditure considerably, improve the
> >  incentives to work and save, all with relatively small
> >  redistributive impact.
> >
> >  Keywords: Welfare Reform, Welfare Accounts, Social Insurance,
> >  Taxes, Welfare State Benefits
> >
> >     
>
>
>