Replication Data for: Less Bang for Your Buck? Economic Insecurity and the Constraint of Social Capital on Social Welfare Policy

Rising economic insecurity in recent decades (Hacker et al. 2014) has brought to the center of public discourse the role of social welfare programs in managing this widespread concern. Government spending on social insurance and direct assistance can reduce not only poverty and income inequality, but also aggregate income volatility. This outcome of social policy is not well understood, and theory suggests that the effectiveness of spending in managing insecurity is conditional on context. Informal social institutions fostering coordination could directly affect economic insecurity, but can further shape the implementation of public policy with real economic implications. Evidence from the U.S. states from 1987-2010 fails to support a benevolent social capital thesis, and suggests an adverse interaction between social capital and public policy implementation. Not only is social capital associated with greater economic insecurity, but the findings here suggest it also mitigates the effectiveness of social policy in securing income stability in the U.S. states.