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Social Democratic America

Author

Listed:
  • Kenworthy, Lane

    (University of Arizona)

Abstract

America is the one of the wealthiest nations on earth. So why do so many Americans struggle to make ends meet? Why is it so difficult for those who start at the bottom to reach the middle class? And why, if a rising economic tide lifts all boats, have middle-class incomes been growing so slowly? Social Democratic America explains how this has happened and how we can do better. Lane Kenworthy convincingly argues that we can improve economic security, expand opportunity, and ensure rising living standards for all by moving toward social democracy. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of social policy in America and other affluent countries, he proposes a set of public social programs, including universal early education, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, wage insurance, the government as employer of last resort, and many others. Kenworthy looks at common objections to social democracy, such as the oft-repeated claim that Americans don't want big government, which he readily debunks. Indeed, we already have in place a host of effective and popular social programs, from Social Security to Medicare to public schooling. Moreover, the available evidence suggests that rich nations can generate the tax revenues needed to pay for generous social programs while maintaining an innovative and growing economy, and without restricting liberty. Can it happen? Kenworthy describes how the US has been progressing slowly but steadily toward a genuine social democracy for nearly a century. Controversial and powerful, Social Democratic America shows that the good society doesn't require a radical break from our past; we just need to continue in the direction we are already heading.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenworthy, Lane, 2016. "Social Democratic America," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190230951.
  • Handle: RePEc:oxp:obooks:9780190230951
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    Cited by:

    1. Pablo A. Mitnik & Anne-Line Helsø & Victoria L. Bryant, 2020. "Inequality of Opportunity for Income in Denmark and the United States: A Comparison Based on Administrative Data," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 317-382, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Bjorklund, Eric, 2023. "The needle and the damage done: Deaths of despair, economic precarity, and the white working-class," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    3. Photis Lysandrou & Taimaz Ranjbaran, 2021. "Financialisation reinforced: the dual legacy of the covid pandemic," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 589-606, December.
    4. Thomas Alan, 2020. "Full Employment, Unconditional Basic Income and the Keynesian Critique of Rentier Capitalism," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 1-38, June.
    5. John E. Roemer, 2021. "What Is Socialism Today? Conceptions Of A Cooperative Economy," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 62(2), pages 571-598, May.
    6. Marc Audi & Marc Poulin & Amjad Ali, 2024. "Determinants of Business Freedom in Developing Countries: The Role of Institutional Development and Policy Mix," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 14(4), pages 188-199, July.
    7. Daniel Chomsky, 2018. "A Distorting Mirror: Major Media Coverage of Americans` Tax Policy Preferences," Working Papers Series 73, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    8. Lane Kenworthy, 2015. "Do employment-conditional earnings subsidies work?," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/10, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    9. Edward Bishop Smith & William Rand, 2018. "Simulating Macro-Level Effects from Micro-Level Observations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(11), pages 5405-5421, November.
    10. Michael Manville & Benjamin Cummins, 2015. "Why do voters support public transportation? Public choices and private behavior," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 303-332, March.

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