Status rewards—the cultural recognition of men as 'good guys' for holding down jobs and supporting families, and stigma for those who did not—functioned as powerful behavioral incentives distinct from economic incentives, and their destruction was a major mechanism through which welfare policy changes affected behavior.
causalpending
Speaker
Charles MurrayEvidence Quote
“there's a chapter in that book entitled the destruction of status rewards and the destruction of status rewards said you know what a lot of these changes and behavior come from a lot of them come in the from the fact that it used to be that if you were a low-income guy who was holding down a job and supporting a wife and children you got status in your community as one of the good guys and if you didn't do those things you got stigmatized as one of the bad ones well those are incentives all right they're not economic incentives they're cultural incentives”
Created: 8/10/2026, 10:10:32 PM
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