Walter Williams periodically has explained that the main beneficiaries of the so-called War on Poverty are all the bureaucrats who have very lucrative jobs in all the various redistribution programs, agencies, and departments. He calls these people “poverty pimps” and asks whether they actually have an incentive to solve problems since that would put their jobs at risk. Those are all interesting issues, but this post looks at the number of bureaucrats, by state, working in the “public welfare” industry (the Census Bureau has an interactive program that allows this type of calculation). Comparing that number of bureaucrats to each state’s population allows the creation of a “Poverty Pimp Index” showing the number of bureaucrats (at the state and local level) per 100,000 of population.
Surprisingly, New Hampshire is the worst state, requiring four times as many bureaucrats per capita to administer income-redistribution programs as Hawaii, which is the surprise winner as the most efficient state. I’m sure these numbers represent a gross over-simplification, and they may depend on how states classify employees, so this is nothing but a quick look at some interesting data. If anybody knows of more substantive research on the comparative efficiency of how states administer programs, please send it my way.
The Poverty Pimp Index (“public welfare” bureaucrats per 100,000 residents)
New Hampshire 360
Alaska 302
New York 290
Maine 280
Wisconsin 277
Pennsylvania 277
DC 277
Minnesota 266
New Jersey 255
Ohio 255
Kansas 121
Idaho 120
Georgia 118
Texas 113
South Carolina 104
Nevada 99
Mississippi 96
Indiana 95
Florida 92
Hawaii 86
I think that Alaska is so high on the list because of the high native population and the fact that many people (mostly natives) live way outside of the major population centers and they get a lot in terms of heating fuel and what not from the G.
[...] many government programs and initiatives exist primarily for the benefit of the bureaucracy, and he coined the phrase “poverty pimps” to describe the folks who get comfortable governmen… to operate programs that don’t help – and often hurt – disadvantaged [...]
[...] reduce poverty. After all, as Walter Williams has explained, the so-called War on Poverty is a great gig for the tens of thousands of bureaucrats who get to oversee the programs. Rate this: Share this:PrintEmailFacebookTwitterMoredeliciousDiggFarkLinkedInRedditStumbleUponLike [...]
[...] The biggest beneficiaries of the current system are the army of bureaucrats that receive very comfortable salaries administering various [...]
[...] biggest beneficiaries of the current system are the army of bureaucrats that receive very comfortable salaries administering various [...]
[...] Or are you fighting the war in order to perpetuate the need to fight it — and in so doing, solidifying your own prospects as a poverty [...]
[...] other words, the people administering the programs – Walter Williams calls them “poverty pimps” – are the ones who [...]
[...] extra credit, Big Government adds three items for follow-up study: 1. The biggest beneficiaries of the current system are the army of bureaucrats that receive very comfortable salaries administering various [...]
[...] The biggest beneficiaries of the current system are the army of bureaucrats that receive very comfortable salariesadministering various programs. [...]
[...] biggest beneficiaries of the current system are the army of bureaucrats that receive very comfortable salaries administering various [...]
[...] have been pouring a lot of love on this otherwise oft-overlooked state (though some gripes remain). New Hampshire’s economic freedom has made it home base for the Free State Project, a [...]
Just came across this. A second look at the data shows a few interesting points.
The index indeed seems to be largely based on how each state classifies “public welfare” workers. If you look at total bureaucrats, the numbers across New Hampshire, the US average, Hawaii and New Jersey (the ones I checked) are remarkably similar. The range is from 6,279 bureaucrates per 100k (the US avg) to 6,711 (New Jersey).
What sticks out the most from the data I looked at, is how thrifty New Hampshire is on bureaucrat salaries and this holds across both total bureaucrats and welfare workers. Here’s the data for avg pay per welfare worker:
New Hampshire: 2,735
New Jersey: 3,894
Hawaii: 3,415
USA: 3,317
Spreadsheet used for calculations:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ap92BiTCRHozdHdRTHVqTHIzWUkzTmZ0TDVZMlFLSnc
[...] system is good for bureaucrats (Walter Williams calls them Poverty Pimps) and good for politicians, but it’s been bad news for poor people. Rate this: Share [...]
[...] biggest beneficiaries of the current system are the army of bureaucrats that receive very comfortable salaries administering various [...]
[...] If you like this “educrat” ranking, here’s a “Poverty Pimp” ranking of “public welfare” bureaucrats compared to state population. Ohio and Alaska do poorly in both, for what it’s [...]