A CENTRAL precept of free-market economics is that incentives matter. If you raise the minimum wage, employers will hire fewer workers. If you raise the tax on income, individuals will work less. In retrospect, some of the most “radical” conservative policy innovations in history have simply attempted to align individual incentives with sensible social objectives.
One of the most controversial policies adopted in memory was welfare reform in 1996. An epidemic of single motherhood was one of the most pressing social problems of the late 20th century. Teens who had children were far more likely to drop out of school and live a life of poverty. Children of teen mothers faced disadvantages from the time they were born, when they averaged relatively low birth weights, through adulthood, when they were far more likely to end up in prison.
Comments