ABSTRACT
Citizens obtain welfare from three basic sources: markets, family, and government. The market provides income and sells commercial welfare inputs such as child minding or medical insurance. For most people, during most of their lives, the market is undoubtedly the chief source of well-being. Families, too, play a pivotal role in welfare packaging, in part by providing services and care for kin, in part via income transfers. Income pooling in families is the norm and income transfers between the generations is substantial—in particular from the elderly to the young (Albertini et.al, 2006). To fully understand welfare states we need to situate them in the full context of welfare production and consumption. I term this welfare regime.
