Why doesn't the United States have a European-style welfare state?(Statistical Data Included) From: Brookings Papers on Economic Activity | Date: September 22, 2001| Author: Alesina, Alberto; Glaeser, Edward; Sacerdote, Bruce | COPYRIGHT 2001 Brookings Institution. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS REDISTRIBUTE income among their citizens on a much larger scale than does the U.S. government. European social programs are more generous and reach a larger share of citizens. European tax systems are more progressive. European regulations designed to protect the poor are more intrusive. In this paper we try to understand why.

The literature on the size of government is rich and varied. However, here we do not focus on the size of government as such,...