Policies & Programs

Governments manage economic imperatives through fiscal, trade, regulatory and other macroeconomic policies that grow the economy. They advance social goals by providing social and health benefits and employment supports that buffer temporary or permanent loss of market income, that assure a minimum level of necessary goods and services, that facilitate employment and protect the health and safety of workers, and that meet the special needs of particularly vulnerable populations.

In the U.S., these social, health and employment benefits have been built piecemeal over, on and around a foundation constructed more than 70 years ago by the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935. They reflect the organization of work and family life, the structure of employment, the population characteristics and assumptions about the public and private sectors of that era. They also reflect the focus of the initial SSA legislation on the aged and disabled, largely ignoring working-age adults and their dependents. It is time to ask whether these programs reflect current realities and have the capacity to achieve social goals into the new century.

Read more about the Old Assumptions & New Realities that affect anti-poverty policies & programs in the United States