There are many reasons for states to concern themselves with the welfare – the well-being – of their citizens. In terms of pragmatic politics, governments wanting to stay in office must satisfy the desires of their electors. Providing people with ‘bread and circuses’ is a time-honoured formula for securing social peace. Economically, improving human capital is a good productive investment, and giving poor people more purchasing power stimulates the demand side of the economy. Sociologically and psychologically, attending to social welfare is a sign that ‘we care’, unifying the nation and stirring people to greater sacrifices when required.

None of those, however, represent the sorts of ‘reasons for welfare’ with which we will be concerned in this chapter. The reasons which concern us here pertain not to causes and pragmatic motives but, rather, to more high-minded moral reasons. What we will be looking for here are good reasons, from a moral point of view, for attending to the welfare of our fellow citizens. Empirical matters – the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ – will be addressed in later chapters. Our stance in the present chapter is insistently normative rather than empirical, evaluative rather than explanatory.

It would nonetheless be wrong to draw an overly sharp distinction between the two sets of concerns. Moral norms matter, socially and politically (and hence ultimately morally as well), only insofar as people can actually be motivated to act upon them (Goodin 1993).