Noun
A social system in which the state takes overall responsibility for the welfare of its citizens, providing health care, education, unemployment compensation and social security.
A country in which such a system operates.
Source: en.wiktionary.orgModern economics and the welfare state borrowed heavily on the future. Gregory Benford
This, by the way, is the welfare state in action: Its a whole bunch of special interest groups screwing consumers and taxpayers, and making them think they're really benefiting. Murray Rothbard
The problem of how we finance the welfare state should not obscure a separate issue: if each person thinks he has an inalienable right to welfare, no matter what happens to the world, that's not equity, it's just creating a society where you can't ask anything of people. Jacques Delors
I want to increase our spending on research and development by 25%. That's something the U.S. does very well. That dynamism alongside a welfare state in the European community - that's the synthesis I want to achieve. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
The welfare state disempowered working class people people by taking away their ability to self-organise, by taking away their ability to work with each other. It atomised working class communities and also prevented innovation and aspiration for those at the bottom. Phillip Blond
[S]ome basic facts about Canada that are relevant to my talk... Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Stephen Harper