[rrsqhwdq] Unrestricted money as welfare

The government provides free or subsidized social services to those with low income, e.g., housing, food, medicine, education.  Sometimes the government directly provides the services, other times vouchers earmarked for those services.

Why not provide unrestricted money instead by which they can purchase those services on the open market?  Economic theory supports this in terms of efficiency.  Econometrics suggests the poor generally spend their money rationally.

Nevertheless, many people are politically unwilling to support the government providing unrestricted money to the poor.  The vague worry is that they will spend the money on the "wrong" things.

Hypothesize that this vague reason is actually a bit sinister: there are things the poor should not have access to buy, even if they have money.  Power.  Buying themselves up in social class.  Especially, buying the ability to conceal or be deceptive about their social class in courtship rituals.

Constraining welfare to the poor so they can acquire only certain things prevents them from acquiring other things which become signaling mechanisms for social class, helping keep social classes segregated.