Caira Ruiz

Mary Curtin
Independent Research G/T
18 May 2017
Primary Research Analysis
Methods
Materials- Google Sheets, U.S TANF database, government of Finland statistics
database, Kela database, 2016 Canada Social Report, government of Canada statistics
database, OECD database, Statista.com (all links provided in results sheet).
Procedure/ Operational Definitions- This research was designed to 1) compare the
efficacy of international systems of welfare, specifically within Canada, Finland, and the
United States, and 2) affirm the hypothesis that the United States is an international inefficient
outlier among various, similarly well-off welfare states in terms of safety net efficacy. The
aforementioned databases and reports were reviewed for the sake of tracking the following five
factors within each countrys economy and welfare state, through the years 2001-2015: per
capita GDP, unemployment, poverty rate, caseload, and social expenditure. Dashes were used to
denote unavailable data within the chart. All currency values are in U.S dollars, while all rates
are in percentages. Operational definitions are as follows:
Per Capita GDP: The total output of a country in U.S dollars divided by the total
population; provides a relevant picture of the standard of living within each
country.
Unemployment: The % of individuals within the workforce who are unable to
work.
Poverty Rate: a.k.a the low income rate; the % of individuals within the total
population who fall below the poverty line, the estimated minimum level of
income in each country necessary to secure life necessities.
Caseload: The number of cases, or families, that each welfare state provides aid
to; indicates how many families receive aid.
Social Expenditure: The % of a countrys GDP allocated towards social welfare,
including cash benefits, funding for goods and services, and tax breaks.
Per capita GDP and unemployment were analyzed to surmise the state of the economy, and
compared to the poverty rate, caseload, and social expenditure of each country to extrapolate the
efficacy of each welfare system under various economic recessions and peaks; optimal welfare
systems will maintain comparatively lower poverty rates and higher caseloads (as such systems
will administer more aid) in times of economic hardship while spending the least amount of
expenditure possible.
Results:
On average, through 2001-2015, Finland possessed the lowest overall unemployment rate
and poverty rate (8.24% and and 8.07%) along with the highest social expenditure (25.83%).
Meanwhile, Canada possessed an average unemployment rate of 7.14% (the highest among the
three countries), poverty rate of 10.16% (over the years of 2001-2011; the 2012-2015 data was
unavailable) and social expenditure of 16.70%. Lastly, the U.S averaged a 6.46% unemployment
rate, a 13.47% poverty rate (the highest among the three countries), and a 17.23% social
expenditure. All three countries largely increased caseload at times of decreased economic
output (as indicated by per capita GDP). Similarly, all three countries experience a decline in
caseloads accompanied by an increasing poverty rate (indicating more people are becoming
impoverished while less people are receiving aid), the U.S has by far the highest increased
poverty rate and decrease in caseload (as cases handled by the United States drop/vary by a range
of about 800,000, while the caseloads of both Finland and Canada only vary by 150,000 and
30,000 respectively).

Canada
Finland
United States
Discussion:
Although the caseload data is partly ambiguous, correlations within the research support
that among similarly first world countries, the U.S is an inefficient welfare state. Among the
three investigated countries, the U.S is considered to be the most hyper-liberal welfare regime,
meaning that among other similar liberal welfare regimes (such as Canada) and alternative social
democratic systems (such as Finland), the U.S possesses one of the most exclusive, marketized
systems of welfare, that punitively distributes means-tested aid to the needy while creating class
divisions with politically unpopular and biased programs. The above data reflects the inefficacies
of this system, as the U.S has maintained the highest average poverty rate and second highest
social expenditure in the last 15 years, from 2001-2015, among the three countries. Thus, when
compared to alternative welfare systems (such as the social democratic system of Finland), the
U.S spends a comparably larger amount of expenditure without effectively relieving poverty.
The same can be observed when the U.S is compared to Canada, another liberal regime, as the
U.S still maintains a higher overall poverty rate and social expenditure. Therefore, the U.S is
indeed an internationally ineffective outlier in terms of social welfare; naturally, further research
on alternative methods of welfare should be pursued for the sake of much needed reform.