Knowra Welfare state Welfare state A system in which public institutions protect people from economic insecurity and provide social services, income support, or both. Its scope and design vary across countries and historical periods.
Social insurance : Programs that pool contributions to protect people against risks such as unemployment, illness, disability, and old age. It finances benefits by sharing specified risks across contributors.
Liberal welfare regime : A welfare-state model that relies heavily on markets and targets public assistance toward people with low incomes. It is the model most associated with modest, means-tested provision.
Poor Laws : English laws that regulated public relief for poor people from the sixteenth century until their nineteenth-century reform. They are an early institutional precedent for state responsibility toward poverty.
Income redistribution : The transfer of income among people or groups through taxes, benefits, wages, or public services. Taxes and transfers alter how market income is distributed.
Universal basic income : A regular cash payment made to individuals without means testing or work requirements. It offers a distinct alternative to benefits tied to employment or demonstrated need.
Social assistance : Public support, usually means-tested, for people whose income or resources fall below a defined threshold. It provides a safety net for people who do not qualify for contributory benefits.
Social democratic welfare regime : A welfare-state model that provides broad, often universal benefits and pursues high levels of social equality. It contrasts targeted assistance with extensive universal provision.
Bismarckian social insurance : The contributory health, accident, and old-age insurance programs introduced in Germany under Otto von Bismarck in the 1880s. These programs established a durable model of employment-linked social protection.
Poverty reduction : A decrease in the number or share of people living below a defined poverty threshold. Cash benefits and services can reduce material deprivation.
Basic income experiments : Research trials that test unconditional cash payments and measure their effects on recipients and communities. Experiments provide evidence about how unconditional payments affect work and well-being.
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