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Charles Murray

What Charles Murray thinks about government

@charles-murray · 12 positions · On ppll ↗

Political scientist, born in 1943, whose Losing Ground (1984) argued that US welfare programs from the 1960s on made poverty worse by rewarding behaviour that kept people poor.

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Only Charles Murray on government. See everyone on government

7 dated positions, c. 1984 to 2018, in their own words. Our reading of what Charles Murray has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingThe 1960s social reforms were a major contributor to rising out-of-wedlock births

    Their wordsI will still defend the proposition that the social reforms of the 1960s were a major contributor to the acceleration of out-of-wedlock births.

    ↗Conversations with Bill Kristol: Charles Murray III (taped February 7, 2018; transcript)conversationswithbillkristol.org 2nd of 7 in this piece

  3. Our readingAbolishing welfare would not restore the old norms around family formation

    Their wordsAnd so, I had to come with terms to the fact that I don’t think getting rid of the welfare system would in any way fully restore the same kind of milieu, in which teenage boys and teenage girls made decisions about this sort of thing.

    ↗Conversations with Bill Kristol: Charles Murray III (taped February 7, 2018; transcript)conversationswithbillkristol.org 3rd of 7 in this piece

  5. Our readingTrying to provide more for the poor produced more poor instead

    Their wordsWe tried to provide more for the poor and produced more poor instead.

    ↗Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984)archive.org All 5 from this book

  7. Our readingRemoving barriers to escaping poverty inadvertently built a trap

    Their wordsWe tried to remove the barriers to escape from poverty, and inadvertently built a trap.

    ↗Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984)archive.org All 5 from this book

  9. Our readingThe new welfare rules made short-term behaviour that was destructive in the long term profitable for the poor

    Their wordsThe first effect of the new rules was to make it profitable for the poor to behave in the short term in ways that were destructive in the long term.

    ↗Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984)archive.org All 5 from this book

  11. Our readingAny objective eligibility rule for a transfer program will irrationally exclude some people

    Their wordsAny objective rule that defines eligibility for a social transfer program will irrationally exclude some persons.

    ↗Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984)archive.org All 5 from this book

  13. Our readingAny social transfer makes the condition that prompted it more worth being in

    Their wordsAny social transfer increases the net value of being in the condition that prompted the transfer.

    ↗Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Basic Books, 1984)archive.org All 5 from this book