ABSTRACT
A recent OECD study compares public spending on cash benefits for the working-age population among 22 countries. In 1992, spending as a percentage of GDP, varied from 1.2 percent in Japan, to 3.2 percent in the United States, to 7 percent in France and Canada, to almost 13 percent in Finland and the Netherlands (MacFarlan and Oxley, 1996). Part of these differences are due to definitional aspects, such as the tax treatment of benefits. But a larger part can be explained by the rules governing eligibility and entitlements, by how these rules are applied, and by the public-private mix in funding benefit programs.
