The American Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Asset- and Means- Tested Social Assistance Programs

This chapter on the American welfare state system, by Peter Abrahamson, provides a critical (and rare) outside view on the development, inner workings and problems, and special features of the welfare state in the United States. The international experience of Abrahamson is paired with meticulous attention to detail. This chapter is a perfect starting point to get to know the welfare state in the largest country in the Western world. Abrahamson, in his highly investigative manner, reveals that the United States has the second highest spending on the welfare state in the world when incorporating private spending and the taxation system with its grand style of tax deduction schemes-thus busting a persisting (and stubborn) global myth that the welfare state system in the US would be a small one (while the opposite is the case). The special focus of this chapter is on asset- and means-tested social programs.