A re-examination of welfare states and inequality in rich nations: How in-kind transfers and indirect taxes change the story
A re-examination of welfare states and inequality in rich nations: How in-kind transfers and indirect taxes change the story
复制标题
重新审视富裕国家的福利国家和不平等：实物转移支付和间接税如何改变现状
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
2006
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
T. Smeeding
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
I. Garfinkel;L. Rainwater;T. Smeeding
以前的研究发现，富裕的西方国家之间的不平等存在很大的跨国差异，这在很大程度上是由于福利国家转移的慷慨程度的差异。美国是最不慷慨的国家，也是税后和转移不平等最严重的国家。但这些分析仅限于现金和近现金转移以及对收入的直接税的影响，而平均而言，富裕国家一半的福利国家转移是实物福利--医疗保险、教育和其他服务。按政府成本计算实物福利，并计算用于为转移提供资金的间接税，大大减少了收入分配最底层的国家间的不平等差异。这些发现对我们如何看待所有国家都面临的福利国家领域的权衡具有影响，我们参考当前美国关于医疗保险的辩论来说明这一点。©2006，公共政策分析与管理协会
Previous studies find large crossnational differences in inequality amongst rich Western nations, due in large part to differences in the generosity of welfare state transfers. The United States is the least generous nation and the one having the most aftertax and transfer inequality. But these analyses are limited to the effects of cash and nearcash transfers and direct taxes on incomes, while on average, half of welfare state transfers in rich nations are inkind benefits-health insurance, education, and other services. Counting inkind benefits at government cost and accounting for the indirect taxes used to finance transfers substantially reduces crossnational differences in inequality at the bottom of the income distribution. The findings have implications for how we think about tradeoffs across welfare state domains that all nations face and we illustrate this with reference to the current U.S. debate about health insurance. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management