Welfare

Welfare has four main meanings.

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• In general terms, welfare refers simply to well-being, the human condition whereby people are faring well, that is: prosperous, in good health and at peace.
• In economics, welfare is associated with material benefit or preferred outcomes. Welfare has a specific meaning in formal or technical economics (see welfare economics), as in the term social welfare function. In this context it refers to utility or well-offness, either for an individual, or aggregated for a group.
• In social policy, social welfare refers to the range of services intended to meet people's needs. This is the use of the term in the idea of the welfare state.
• In the United States, welfare refers more specifically to money paid by the government to persons who are in need of financial assistance, but who are unable to work, or whose circumstances mean the income they require for basic needs is in excess of their salary (e.g. tax credits for working mothers). The sum paid usually gives an income well below the poverty line, and it usually also has conditions attached, such as the need to prove one is searching for work or that there is some condition, such as a disability or obligation to care for children, that prevents them from working. In some cases recipients are forced to do work, and this is often known as workfare. Some kind of safety net provision of this kind is made in almost all developed countries.
 
Welfare: Welfare in the US ►