Preface . , he United States has one of the highest poverty rates of the twenty or so most affluent democracies. This is true even if poverty lines are drawn to a single standard of consumption provided by the prosperous United States. It is true despite the fact that the U.S. poverty rate is not unusually high among comparable affluent democracies if the rate is tallied before the giveand-take of government taxing and spending has had its impact. So why is there so much poverty in the United

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... ates? A free-market conservative might impute the deterioration of the United States's relative egalitarian standing once government finances are accounted for to a counterproductive government involvement in setting personal income. Data suggest, however, that poverty figures tend to shrink after governmental taxes and transfers are tallied. Indeed, this book shows that U.S. spending for income-security purposes is relatively low. As Gosta Esping-Andersen's Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism has famously shown, the extent to which the United States buffers people against the economic vicissitudes of old age, illness, and unemployment is slight in comparison with the public protections provided citizens of other affluent democracies. Government income security spending appears to reduce poverty. Indeed, the economic shortfalls associated with old age, sickness, and ix X Preface