Shifting Tides

Shifting Tides Dramatic social changes mean the welfare state is more necessary than ever

Nicholas Barr

The world has changed in ways that affect families, work, and skills. In advanced economies in the early postwar years, most people got married and stayed married. The wife was the caregiver and the husband the breadwinner, generally in a steady job for many years, possibly a lifetime, usually with an unchanging set of skills.

Merely describing that world makes it clear how much has changed. Today, lifetime employment is no longer the norm. Labor markets are increasingly fluid. Rapid technological change requires workers to update their skills. And many more women are in paid work, more marriages...