Can governments do anything right? This work argues that federal, state, and local governments can and should do a great deal. It analyzes government programmes that affect Americans' food, housing, health care, education, jobs and wages, incomes and taxes.

It is often said that the federal government cannot or should not attempt to address America's problems of poverty and inequality--because its bureaucracy is wasteful or its programs ineffective. But is this true? In this book, Benjamin I. Page and James R. Simmons examine a number of federal and local programs, detailing what government action already does for its citizens and assessing how efficient it is at solving the problems it seeks to address. Their conclusion, surprisingly, is the polar opposite of the prevailing rhetoric--"What Government Can Do" is an insightful and compelling argument that it both can and should do more.