Putting Trust in the U.S. Budget: Federal Trust Funds and the Politics of Commitment

ISBN-13: 9780521777483 / Angielski / Miękka / 2000 / 246 str.

Eric M. Patashnik

Opis

In the United States many important programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, are paid from trust funds. At a time when major social insurance funds are facing insolvency, this timely book provides the first comprehensive study of this significant yet little-studied feature of the American welfare state. Trust funds are at the heart of US budgeting and public social provision, and also raise a fundamental question of democratic politics: can current officeholders bind their successors? Through detailed case studies Patashnik shows how long term government commitments are effectively designed.

Recenzje

'One can only admire the author's ability to explain so much, so lucidly.' Journal of Economic Literature

Spis treści

1. Introduction: trust funds and the politics of commitment; 2. Political transaction costs, feedback effects, and policy credibility; 3. Trust fund taxes vs general fund taxes; 4. Social security; 5. Medicare; 6. Highways; 7. Airports; 8. Superfund; 9. Barriers to trust fund adoption: the failed cases of energy security and lead abatement; 10. Conclusions: The structure and normative challenge of promise-keeping.