This paper compares the political support for a targeted and a universalistic welfare policy in a model in which incomes are stochastic (so that welfare policies have an insurance benefit) and unequal ex ante (so that welfare policies have a redistributive effect). With self-interested voting,...

In this comment we compare the asset-based approach of Bowles and Gintis with the alternative approach associated most closely with social democracy but followed in all advanced industrial societies to some extent.

In this paper, we develop the implications of the view of welfare policies as publicly financed insurance policies that pay benefits relative to contributions in a redistributive manner. With the majority of voters having both redistributive and insurance motives for supporting welfare spending,...