Imagine a hard-up family. The mother has given birth to her second child. The government paid for her prenatal care, the birth and her newborn's medical expenses. She will get four-fifths of her wages during five months of maternity leave and her husband will take three paid months off, both under a government scheme. Later they can count on subsidised child care and child tax credits. By the time her infant son is off to nursery her daughter will be three and can enroll in state-funded pre-kindergarten. Either parent losing their job would be bad, of course, but not catastrophic: unemployment benefits would replace much of their wages for a while. If things got really dire, they could get food assistance.

想象这样一个经济拮据的家庭： 母亲刚生下第二个孩子。 政府为她支付了产前护理、分娩以及新生儿医疗费用。 根据一项政府计划，她可在五个月的产假期间领取五分之四的工资， 其丈夫也可享受三个月带薪休假。 之后，他们还能享受儿童保育补贴和儿童税收抵免。 等小儿子到了上托儿所的年龄，女儿也满三岁了，可以就读政府资助的学前班。 当然，父母任何一方失业都绝非好事，但也不至于陷入绝境：失业救济金会暂时替代他们的大部分工资。 如果情况真的非常糟糕，他们还能获得食品援助。

It all sounds like France or Germany—certainly not America, with its low taxes and skimpy social programmes. It is in fact available to families earning around $50,000 a year in Massachusetts. More than a dozen other states, including big ones like California and New York, also offer citizens a European-style bargain of higher taxes and generous welfare. Welcome to the welfare states of America.

这一切听起来像是法国或德国的福利制度——肯定不是美国，毕竟美国税收低、社会福利项目少。 但实际上，在马萨诸塞州，年收入约5万美元的家庭就能享受这些福利。 包括加利福尼亚州和纽约州等在内的十多个州， 也为公民提供了欧洲式的“高税收高福利”方案。 欢迎来到美国的福利国家。

When William Beveridge invented the welfare state in Britain in the 1940s, he sought to slay the "five giants": want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. He devised a safety-net of child allowances, maternity leave, unemployment insurance, disability payments, universal health care and old-age pensions. In contrast to other Western democracies, America's federal government is wholly responsible only for state pensions (Social Security) and health care for the elderly (Medicare). It contributes to child tax credits (a lot), plus health care for the poor and food assistance (a fair bit, through Medicaid and SNAP, respectively). On maternity leave it is, well, mum.

20世纪40年代，威廉·贝弗里奇在英国创立了福利国家制度，旨在消除“五大祸害”：贫困、疾病、无知、 肮脏和懒惰。 他设计了一个安全网，包括儿童津贴、产假、失业保险、伤残抚恤金、 全民医疗保健和养老金。 相比之下， 美国联邦政府仅全权负责州养老金（社会保障）和老年人医疗保健（医疗保险）。 它为儿童税收抵免（大量投入）、贫困人口医疗保健（通过医疗补助计划，投入较多）和食品援助（通过补充营养援助计划，投入一定）提供资金。 至于产假，美国联邦政府则几乎不提供支持。

As a result, provision of services varies greatly from state to state, as do citizens' tax bills. A poor single mother in munificent Minnesota would receive around $10,000 in cash and food subsidies—twice what she would get in Arkansas. Half of all births in New York are paid for by Medicaid, compared with just a third in Wyoming. The weekly unemployment benefit offered in Massachusetts is roughly six times as generous as in New Jersey. The tax burden—including state and federal taxes—borne by New Yorkers is around 33% of state GDP, a level far closer to Britain or Canada than to the slender 23% of GDP handed over by Texans or Georgians.

因此，各州提供的服务差异巨大，公民的税负也各不相同。 在慷慨的明尼苏达州，一位贫困单亲母亲可获得约1万美元的现金和食品补贴，是她在阿肯色州所能获得的两倍。 纽约州一半的分娩费用由医疗补助计划支付，而怀俄明州只有三分之一。 马萨诸塞州提供的每周失业救济金大约是新泽西州的六倍。 纽约州居民承担的税负（包括州税和联邦税）约占州生产总值的33%， 这一水平与英国或加拿大相比，远接近德克萨斯州或格鲁吉亚人所占GDP的23%。

America's welfare states often withdraw support sooner than in Europe. After a year on the dole a Californian will get less than 10% of their typical wage, compared with an average of nearly 40% in the OECD club of mostly rich countries. Basic paid family leave in the 13 states that mandate it lasts about 12 weeks. Even topped up with another 6-12 weeks, as the most generous states allow, that is far less than the 50 or so weeks common in Europe.

美国的福利国家制度往往比欧洲更早地削减支持。 领了一年救济金后，加利福尼亚州人的收入将不到其典型工资的10%， 而经合组织（主要由富裕国家组成）国家的平均水平接近40%。 在规定带薪家庭假的13个州，基本带薪假期约为12周。 即使加上最慷慨的州允许的额外6至12周，也远低于欧洲常见的50周左右。

But while they last, some of the schemes are as generous as European ones. In the first few months after losing their job, Americans get benefits worth over half their wages, leaving them better off than laid-off Austrians, Finns or Brits. Because American paid-leave programmes replace a bigger share of mothers' wages, the equivalent number of fully paid weeks available to mothers is similar to that in other rich countries. By this measure, New Jersey's support is about as cushy as France's, Massachusetts is close to Britain and California beats Australia.

不过，在福利有效期内，美国的某些福利方案与欧洲一样慷慨。 失业后的头几个月，美国人获得的福利超过其工资的一半，这让他们比失业的奥地利人、 芬兰人或英国人过得更好。 由于美国的带薪休假计划能替代母亲更大比例的工资， 因此母亲可享受的全薪周数与其他富裕国家相当。 以此衡量，新泽西州的福利支持与法国一样优厚，马萨诸塞州接近英国，而加利福尼亚州则优于澳大利亚。

States are learning from successful experiments in other "laboratories of democracy", just as fans of federalism have long envisaged. Studies of California's paid-leave scheme found that it improved breastfeeding rates, led to more infants getting vaccines and fewer ending up in hospital, and even lowered the number of children living in poverty. It also appears not to damage women's labour-market trajectories or hurt their employers' profits.

各州正从其他“民主实验室”的成功实验中汲取经验，正如联邦制的拥护者长期以来所设想的那样。 对加利福尼亚州带薪休假计划的研究发现，该计划提高了母乳喂养率， 使更多婴儿接种疫苗、住院率降低，甚至减少了贫困儿童的数量。 该计划似乎也并未损害女性的职业轨迹或影响雇主的利润。

Later adopters also learned from California's mistakes. For instance, California initially set wage-replacement rates so low that poor families could not afford to forgo work, notes Maya Rossin-Slater of Stanford University. They were raised permanently only last year. One lesson for other states was thus to offer generous reimbursement from the start, especially for low-wage workers.

后来采用该计划的州也吸取了加利福尼亚州的教训。 例如，斯坦福大学的玛雅·罗辛-斯莱特指出， 加利福尼亚州最初设定的工资替代率过低，贫困家庭无法放弃工作， 直到去年才永久提高了工资替代率。 因此，其他州得到的教训是，从一开始就提供慷慨的报销，尤其是对低薪工人。

California's scheme is not being copied solely because it works. Many states are emulating it because they are fed up waiting for a federal solution from a gridlocked Congress. This is an understandable impulse. But it also creates problems. For one thing, in an age of national politics, with regional newspapers in decline, voters pay little attention to what happens at state level. One in three cannot name their governor, according to polls. This means less democratic accountability and more room for graft and fraud. Minnesota may have lost up to several billion dollars to scams involving covid-19 relief and Medicaid.

加利福尼亚州的方案之所以被复制，不仅仅是因为它有效。 许多州效仿它，是因为它们厌倦了等待国会陷入僵局后出台联邦解决方案。 这种冲动可以理解， 但也带来了问题。 首先，在国家政治时代，随着地方报纸的衰落，选民很少关注州一级发生的事情。 民意调查显示，三分之一的选民说不出州长的名字。 这意味着民主问责制减少，贪污和欺诈的空间增大。 明尼苏达州可能因涉及新冠疫情救济和医疗补助计划的骗局损失了数十亿美元。

Citizens' lack of awareness also means take-up is lower than it could be—and overall outcomes less beneficial. Some six years after California introduced paid leave, half of workers had not heard of it. Participation has risen slowly and is still far from universal, says Ms Rossin-Slater. A lot depends on an employer's goodwill. When she looked at firms which offered similar jobs and paid similar wages, she found lots of variation in adoption.

公民缺乏意识也意味着福利领取率低于可能水平，总体效果也不尽如人意。 加利福尼亚州推行带薪休假制度约六年后，仍有一半的工人不知道这项政策。 罗辛-斯莱特表示，参与率缓慢上升，但仍远未普及。 这在很大程度上取决于雇主的好意。 她研究了提供类似工作和支付类似工资的公司，发现采用该制度的公司存在很大差异。

State programmes have one other big drawback. Because all states bar tiny Vermont are required by law to balance their budgets, they can struggle to maintain generous spending on safety-nets during economic downturns, when tax revenues plummet. Yet that is precisely when their citizens' lot is at its most precarious. This leaves states at the mercy of the federal government. Amid deep recessions Uncle Sam does bring succour: covid-19 stimulus packages provided lots of extra money to states, in part to top up unemployment benefits. But such relief is often temporary, leaving states in a bind once it has gone. If states exploit the largesse to cut income taxes, as many did during the pandemic, the bind is all the more agonising.

州级计划还有另一个重大弊端。 由于除极小的佛蒙特州外，所有州都依法要求平衡预算， 因此在经济衰退、税收收入锐减时，它们难以维持对安全网的慷慨支出。 然而，这正是公民处境最危险的时候。 这使各州只能任由联邦政府摆布。 在严重的经济衰退期间，联邦政府确实会提供援助：新冠疫情刺激计划为各州提供了大量额外资金， 部分用于提高失业救济金。 但这种援助往往是暂时的，一旦停止，各州就会陷入困境。 如果各州利用这笔慷慨援助削减所得税（许多州在疫情期间就是这么做的），那么困境就会更加痛苦。

None of this seems to be dissuading states from turning more European. The number offering paid family leave, for example, has quadrupled since 2017, when just three did. Around a third of Americans—114m people—now live in states with such support. In the past five years another nine have introduced voluntary paid-leave schemes for employers. They include unprogressive places like Florida and Texas. New mothers in Paris, Texas, do not have it as good as their counterparts in the French capital. But they are no longer oceans apart.

然而，这一切似乎并未阻止各州向欧洲模式靠拢。 例如，自2017年以来，提供带薪家庭假的州数量已增至四倍，当时只有三个州提供。 如今，约三分之一的美国人（1.14亿人）生活在提供此类支持的州。 在过去五年里，又有九个州为雇主引入了自愿带薪休假计划， 其中包括佛罗里达州和得克萨斯州等并不进步的地区。 得克萨斯州巴黎市的新妈妈们虽然比不上法国巴黎的同行， 但她们之间的差距已不再遥不可及。