What Government Can Do: Dealing With Poverty and Inequality

It is often said that the federal government cannot or should not attempt to address America’s problems of poverty and inequality--because its bureaucracy is wasteful or its programs ineffective. But is this true? In this book, Benjamin I. Page and James R. Simmons examine a number of federal and local programs, detailing what government action already does for its citizens and assessing how efficient it is at solving the problems it seeks to address. Their conclusion, surprisingly, is the polar opposite of the prevailing rhetoric--What Government Can Do is an insightful and compelling argument that it both can and should do more.

Benjamin I. Page is the Gordon Scott Fulcher Professor of Decision Making in the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University.

James R. Simmons is a professor in and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.