The rise of ‘fend for yourself Federalism’ is fraying America’s welfare state

Federalism in the United States means that the national government has some responsibilities assigned to it under the Constitution with the majority of governance left up to the states. In new research, Anne Daguerre and Tim Conlan look at how the ‘cooperative federalism’ of previous years, where states and the federal government share power, has now fallen away due to increasing political polarization, and how this pattern is causing the country’s welfare state to become more fragmented and disjointed.