abstract:The 'American welfare trap or British unemployment trap or poverty trap, theory asserts that taxation and welfare systems can jointly contribute to keep people on social insurance because the withdrawal of means tested benefits that comes with entering low-paid work causes there to be no significant increase in total income. An individual sees that the opportunity cost of returning to work is too great for too little a financial return, and this can create a perverse incentive to not work.
But the state is equally in a trap because of this looming requirement to provide welfare for people who no longer may be able to fulfil their own welfare needs.