This book is motivated by belief that the American debate can be both informed and challenged by greater understanding and appreciation of UK experience and accomplishments. Previous chapters document how Britain has addressed the common conundrums of social assistance policy and how it has taken, refined, and implemented lessons gleaned from US experience. In this chapter issues of outstanding concern that require the collective wisdom of policy makers and scholars on both sides of the Atlantic and elsewhere to resolve are identified. Even more importantly, this chapter illustrates how the book speaks directly to the failure of vision that characterised recent debates about the reauthorisation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Food Stamp Program (FSP) that define US welfare and help to determine the current living standards and prospects of millions of American families.

While connecting with the ‘How to?’ questions of policy reform, British experience also directs attention to the ‘Why?’ and ‘What for?’ It encourages us not only to ask what is wrong with the present American system, a question that is both retrospective and narrow, but also to look ahead – to reflect on the kind of system that Americans might want and the opportunities that are available. A politically viable American vision of social assistance will surely differ markedly from the one guiding Britain's architects of reform. Nevertheless, the UK experience offers important policy lessons. Also it is the belief of the authors that the US response to this challenge could enhance the opportunities for future idea exchange between the two countries.

Preparing the ground

As noted in Chapter One, Richard Rose (1993) has identified the importance of congruity in values, objectives, and structures when seeking to forge insights from policies in different jurisdictions. Alan Deacon convincingly argues in Chapter Three that sufficient congruity exists between Britain and the US to permit the exchange of policy ideas. Indeed, the evidence is the successful export of US policy models and rhetoric, such as those encapsulated in the mantras ‘welfare-to-work’ and ‘making work pay’, has in turn enhanced congruity and the relevance of British experience to the US. Institutions differ, and we are, as Mark Twain famously noted, separated by a common language – even ‘welfare’ means something different. Nevertheless, constructive policy dialogue is, with care, both possible and successfully practiced.