Shared Responsibility, Shared Risk by Jacob Hacker

Shared Responsibility, Shared Risk by Jacob Hacker

The collapse of the financial markets in 2008 and the resulting 'Great Recession' merely accelerated an already worrisome trend: the shift away from an employer-based social welfare system in the United States. Since the end of World War II, a substantial percentage of the costs of social provision--most notably, unemployment insurance and health insurance--has been borne by employers rather than the state. The US has long been unique among advanced economies in this regard, but in recent years, its social contract has become so frayed that is fast becoming unrecognizable. Despite Obama's election, the burdens of social provision are falling increasingly upon individual families, and the situation is worsening because of the unemployment crisis. How can we repair the American social welfare system so that workers and families receive adequate protection and, if necessary, provision from the ravages of the market? In Shared Responsibility, Shared Risk, Jacob Hacker and Ann O'Leary have gathered a distinguished group of scholars on American social policy to address this most fundamental of problems. Collectively, they analyze how the 'privatization of risk' has increased hardships for American families and increased inequality. They also propose a series of solutions that would distribute the burdens of risks more broadly and expand the social safety net. The range of issues covered is broad: health care, homeownership, social security and aging, unemployment, wealth (as opposed to income) creation, education, and family-friendly policies. The book is also comparative, measuring US social policy against the policies of other advanced nations. Given the current crisis in America social policy and the concomitant paralysis within government, the book has the potential to make an important intervention in the current debate.

[T]his book should be well regardedIt is easily digestible for undergraduate students, but sophisticated enough to engage a professional audience. * N. K. Mitchell, CHOICE *

Jacob S. Hacker is Professor of Political Science at Yale University. Ann O'Leary is Executive Director of Berkeley Center on Health, Economic, and Family Security at University of California-Berkeley Law School.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199781928
ISBN 10	0199781923
Title	Shared Responsibility, Shared Risk
Author	Jacob Hacker
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press Inc
Year published	2012-01-19
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.