John Cogan Tells Us How To Think About Entitlements

Published: November 28, 2018

Entitlement programs fulfill the normal human desire to help those who cannot help themselves. But we must always remember that they also impose a penalty on work, because benefits have to be phased out as income rises. It is important to balance benefits granted and costs imposed.

This video’s audio is excerpted from John Cogan’s 2017 Hoover Institution Summer Policy Boot Camp lecture. 

The Hoover Institution’s Summer Policy Boot Camp an intensive, one-week residential immersion program in the essentials of today’s national and international United States policy for upperclassmen and recent graduates. To learn more, click here.

Additional Resources

• Read John Cogan’s book The High Cost of Good Intentions: A History of U.S. Federal Entitlement Programsto learn more about why entitlements grow; available here.
• Listen as John Cogan talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Cogan's book, The High Cost of Good Intentions, available here.
• Read John Cochrane’s blog on The High Cost of Good Intentions, available here.
• Read John Cogan’s chapter, “Entitlements and the Budget,” in Blueprint for America, available here.
• John Cogan discusses social programs onArea 45: Is Entitlement Reform Possible? Available here.