Welfare

Ten years ago shoe-leather urbanologists found their primary source material in the late-night crack market. Today they're better off rising early and divesting themselves of $1.10 in pocket change to ride the U8 bus, a leading economic indicator of the American inner city. The U8, which serves the easternmost corner of Washington, D.C., is what's known in public-transport parlance as a circuit bus. Its African-American riders are among the most isolated of the urban poor: those who not only can't… more

Selected reviews of The Divided Welfare State are featured below:

Monday, October 14, 2002 The passing of the welfare state is a subject in dire need of serious thinking, and two impressive books devote themselves to the task. Jacob S. Hacker, a young political scientist, has turned his doctoral dissertation into an ambitious theoretical enterprise designed to explain why the American welfare state developed the way it did. Neil Gilbert, a professor of social welfare… more

The events of September 11 eclipsed President Bush's plan to funnel more government money to religious charities, and in recent weeks the White House has decided against fighting to get Congress to approve its entire plan. In the short run, at least, the President will try to persuade Congress to pass a few noncontroversial measures, such as tax incentives to encourage people and corporations to give more.

But the president's faith-based plan was in trouble even before the national zeitgeist… more