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Some Tendencies of Social Welfare and the Problem of Interpretation
By Stephen T. Ziliak
Introduction
Recently, economic historians have stumbled upon some tendencies or "constants" of social welfare in the United States that span more than 150 years. From the 1820s to the 1990s, the length of time families received private or public assistance was roughly constant; in the 1880s and 1890s and from the 1960s to the 1990s, the percentage of households making the transition from welfare to higher paying jobs was relatively constant; and from 1850 to the 1990s, total spending for private and public welfare as a percentage of average wages was also very stable. The lack of movement in key economic indicators of social welfare suggests that the cost of changing social institutions is rather high.
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