In this paper we demonstrate that in addition to its acknowledged screening role, workfare—namely, introducing work (or training) requirements for welfare eligibility in means-tested programs—also serves to mitigate income misreporting by welfare claimants. It achieves this goal by...

Over the years, there emerged two key policy differences between Europe and America, both welfare and migration-states. The former has more generous welfare state and more liberal migration policies than the latter. In this paper we attempt to provide a political-economy explanation for these...

Economists tend to favor the free �ow of capital across national borders, because it allows capital to seek out the highest rate of return. Unrestricted capital �ows may also o¤er several advantages, as noted by Feldstein (2000). First, international �ows reduce the risk faced by owners...

We develop a dynamic politico-economic theory of welfare state, featuring three groups of voters: skilled workers, unskilled workers, and old retirees. The welfare-state is modeled by a proportional tax on labor income to finance a demogrant in a balanced-budget manner to capture the essence of...

In this intriguing paper, Jeffrey Williamson emphasizes that changes in the age distribution of the population (especially the share of young adults, the dependency ratio, and the like) are often much more important than changes in population growth rates in explaining the magnitude and...