The Welfare State As Piggy Bank: Information, Risk, Uncertainty, and the Role of the State

by Nicholas Barr

Overview

Barr contends that the welfare state exists for reasons besides poverty relief, reasons arising out of pervasive problems of imperfect information, risk and uncertainty. As a result, he argues, the welfare state is here to stay, since 21st century developments don't address these additional reasons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199246595
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/26/2001
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Nicholas Barr has a BSc and MSc from the London School of Economics and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He is Reader in Economics at the LSE, the author of numerous books and articles on the economics of the welfare state and the finance of higher education including "The Economics of the Welfare State" (OUP, 3rd edn, 1998) and "Labor Markets and Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe" (OUP, 1994), and a member of the editorial board of the "International Social Security Review".

Table of Contents

1. IntroductionPart 1 Economic theory2. TheoryPart 2 Insurance3. The mirage of private unemployment insurance4. Problems with medical insurance5. Twenty-first century insurance issuesPart 3 Pensions6. The economics of pensions7. Misleading guides to pension design8. Pension design: the options9. Twenty-first century pensions issuesPart 4 Education10. Core issues in the economics of education11. Information problems12. Designing student loans13. Financing higher education: the options14. Twenty-first century education issuesPart 5 The welfare state in a changing world15. The welfare state in post-communist countries16. The welfare state in a changing world