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Spatial Inequalities in the Fiscal Distribution of the U.S. Welfare State

Deemer, Danielle R.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437342124

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Rural Sociology.
Federal “welfare state” programs contribute to the development and well-being of communities across the U.S. by re-distributing tax revenue in the form of social programs and economic development programs. Income assistance programs like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) transfer cash payments to families to subsidize household well-being. Federal programs also drive the development of places by investing in the building blocks of community economic development, which include infrastructure, environmental protection, community facilities, job training, public health, and business incubation. Public and scholarly interest in state-led development is growing, especially as recent civil unrest has highlighted the state’s underinvestment in infrastructure, housing, and employment opportunities in communities of color. While many studies probe inequalities in the content and availability of social and community economic development programs at the state and county levels, few studies examine how the money associated with these programs is distributed sub-nationally. It is important to understand the fiscal distribution of social programs because inequalities in investment may impede the long-term economic development and well-being of under-served communities. This dissertation contributes to this area of the social policy literature by illuminating inequalities in the fiscal distribution of federal social programs and community economic development programs at the beginning of the twenty-first century. A number of studies investigating variation in social policies draw on the institutional politics approach to frame empirical analysis. Institutional politics is an amalgam approach that draws on Marxist perspectives characterizing the state as an arena of class struggle as well as Weberian perspectives situating the state as a semi-autonomous actor. The institutional politics approach holds that aspects of social policy vary with political-economic and institutional characteristics of localities. I extend this approach to the study of social expenditures and hypothesize that the amount spent on social programs is related to the political-economic and institutional profiles of counties. To test the hypotheses, multivariate analysis is carried out on federal expenditure data for approximately 3,000 counties. The two types of social expenditures analyzed are TANF income transfers and aggregate federal place-based development outlays. The multivariate findings support the general hypothesis that political-economic and institutional factors explain a great deal of the variation in social expenditures across counties. As expected from the conceptual framework, per capita income transfers and federal place-based development outlays are significantly lower where business class interests are stronger, which supports the political-economic argument that class struggle drives the distribution of the welfare state. In demonstrating that expenditures are significantly lower where minorities may be perceived as a “threat” to white status, the findings also support race theories of social policy belonging to the political economy approach. In line with the institutional perspective, social expenditures are significantly higher where bureaucracies are larger and where past social expenditures are higher. These findings suggest that the state and its history can shape social expenditures independently of class interests. This study contributes to our understanding of the spatial patterns of federal investment and informs efforts to conceptualize spatial inequalities in the welfare state. These findings have significant implications for the long-term development of communities and for the allocation of federal social programs.
Linda Lobao (Advisor)
Jeff Sharp (Committee Member)
Kerry Ard (Committee Member)
255 p.
Social Research; Sociology; Welfare
welfare state; economic development; counties; TANF; spatial inequality; rural sociology; federal spending; counties

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Deemer, D. R. (2015). Spatial Inequalities in the Fiscal Distribution of the U.S. Welfare State [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437342124

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Deemer, Danielle. Spatial Inequalities in the Fiscal Distribution of the U.S. Welfare State. 2015. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437342124.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Deemer, Danielle. "Spatial Inequalities in the Fiscal Distribution of the U.S. Welfare State." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437342124

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1437342124
902
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.