A New Anti-Poverty Policy Litmus Test

Abstract:

Is welfare addictive? That seems to be the notion that has driven American anti-poverty policy for decades, perhaps centuries. Even Franklin D. Roosevelt, father of our modern welfare state, intoned in his 1935 State of the Union address that poor relief was “a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.” Policymakers have devised any number of cures for this alleged ailment. But perhaps the most palpable, at least to those seeking relief, is the stigma these programs impose. If poor relief is indeed a “subtle destroyer of the human spirit,” then we are well advised to stigmatize it and thereby ensure that it is taken up only as a very last resort.