美国公共福利制度何以孱弱?——历史制度主义的分析视角

Why the U.S.Public Welfare System is Weak:From the Perspective of Historical Institutionalism

各国福利制度的演化与形成,皆因应其特定的历史时代背景,主要受供给和需求两方面驱动。供给侧取决于本国财政筹资能力,需求侧取决于国民福利意识与福利消费模式。20世纪初期极高生产力增长催生的农业国家主义思潮,驱使美国联邦政府后来将缩小收入差距、提高国民购买力视为应对“大萧条”危机和解决“生产过剩”的核心方案,由此形成了“重累进所得税、拒销售税”的税收制度,以及以私人信贷为主的消费金融模式。拒绝国家销售税大大限制了美国税制的增收能力,从而削弱了迈向福利国家的财政基础。针对累进税的附加福利税收豁免政策,则显著促进了私人福利体系的发展。家庭消费信贷的广泛发展弱化了公共福利需求,与之配套的税收豁免政策又对公共福利供给产生了挤出效应。失衡的税制与信贷型消费模式同福利制度相互影响、相互强化,导致美国福利国家的政治主张日渐瓦解、公共福利制度建设愈发孱弱。与此同时,美国私人福利体系却日益发展壮大。由于私人福利制度缺乏普惠性和公平性,最为脆弱的非正规就业群体和非就业群体几乎完全暴露于市场风险和社会风险之中,美国于是成为发达经济体中贫困人口占比最高的国家之一。这种公共福利制度的缺失内置了金融体系不稳定的诱因。

Each country􀆳s welfare system was built in response to its history and depended on the country􀆳s fiscal capacity,the welfare consciousness and consumption patterns.In the early 20th century,the agrarian statism,which was driven by the extremely high productivity,prompted the U.S.federal government to focus on reducing income disparities and stimulating consumption as the central solution to overproduction and the great depression.This led to a“pro-progressive income tax,anti-sales tax”tax system and a consumption model based on private credit.The rejection of the national sales tax greatly limited the revenue-raising capacity of the U.S.tax system and weakened the fiscal base for transitioning to a welfare state.At the same time,the additional welfare tax exemptions contributed significantly to the development of the private welfare system.The widespread household consumer credit has weakened public welfare demand,and the accompanying tax exemptions have had a crowding-out effect on public welfare provision.The imbalanced tax system and credit-based consumption patterns interacted with,reinforced,and consolidated the welfare system,ultimately leading to the disintegration of the political advocacy for the American welfare state and the weakening of the public welfare system.In contrast,the U.S.private welfare system has become increasingly prosperous.Due to the lack of inclusiveness and fairness in the private welfare system,the most vulnerable informal employment and unemployment groups are almost completely exposed to market and social risks,and the United States becomes the developed economy with the highest poverty rate.