Sound too sad to be true?

聽起來悲傷得難以置信嗎?

Let me tell you a story.

讓我給你講個故事。

I once had a student who interned at Florida's welfare program for low-income families.

我曾經有位學生在佛羅里達州一個為低收入家庭服務的社福機構實習。

One day, a distraught mother and her teenage son came into the office.

有一天，一位恩煩意亂的母親和她的青少年兒子走進了辦公室。

Their benefits had been cut, and they were unable to pay their bills.

他們的福利被縮減，無力支付帳單。

And she didn't know why.

她不知道為什麼。

My student searched and searched to figure out why this was the case.

我的學生反覆搜查，想弄明白為什麼會這樣。

And he made an unsettling discovery.

他有了一個令人不安的發現。

It turns out that the teenage son had worked additional hours at his part-time job.

原來那名正值青少年的兒子在打工時額外排了更多的班次。

He had been doing good work.

他的工作表現良好。

And his boss extended the number of hours.

老闆決定延長他的工作時數。

And this allowed the teenage son to bring home more income to the family.

這讓十幾歲的兒子給家裡帶來了更多的收入。

But that little bit of extra money reduced the public assistance that the family was eligible for.

但那一點點額外的錢減少了這個家庭有資格獲得的公共援助。

In fact, the cut was so deep that those extra hours worked actually lowered the total income the family had to live on.

事實上，削減幅度如此之大，以至於那些額外的工作時間實際上降低了這個家庭賴以生存的總收入。

This is a horrible situation, one faced by millions of families.

這是一個可怕的情況，數百萬家庭都面臨著。

Instead of experiencing a gradual decline in benefits as their earnings increase, the government abruptly strips the benefits away.

政府並沒有隨著收入的增加而逐漸減少福利，而是突然剝奪了福利。

It punishes them for working.

這是對他們工作的懲罰。

Now imagine if you and your family were struggling financially.

現在想像一下，如果你和你的家人在經濟上陷入困境。

And you had the opportunity to work additional hours or take a job.

你有機會加班或找份工作。

But in doing so you would actually make your family worse off.

但這樣做實際上會讓你的家庭變得更糟。

How would you respond to these perverse incentives?

您將如何應對這些不正當的激勵措施？

You'd likely scale back on the number of hours worked or not take the job.

你可能會減少工作時間，或者不接受這份工作。

While individual programs attempt to reduce benefits gradually, they often do so at the same time.

雖然個別計劃試圖逐漸減少福利，但它們通常同時這樣做。

And this can result in a large, abrupt reduction in benefits.

這可能會導致福利急劇減少。

At times, individual programs also have abrupt, sudden declines in benefits.

有時，個別計劃的福利也會突然減少。

Take, for example, the federal food stamp program, SNAP.

以聯邦食品券計劃 SNAP (美國營養補充援助計劃 ) 為例。

For a parent with two children, the benefits are gradually reduced as earnings approach $30,000.

對於有兩個孩子的父母來說，當收入接近3萬美元時，福利會逐漸減少。

But once the parent earns over $30,000, the benefits suddenly drop.

但一旦父母的收入超過3萬美元，福利就會突然減少。

This is crazy! Whatever you think about public assistance for the poor, we can all agree that this is the wrong way to do it.

這太瘋狂了！ 無論您如何看待對窮人的公共援助，我們都同意這是錯誤的做法。

People should be rewarded, not punished, when they work.

當人們工作時，他們應該得到獎勵，而不是懲罰。

The welfare system is so poorly designed that it is trapping many people that it was created to help.

福利制度設計得如此糟糕，以致於它困住了許多人，而它的建立是為了幫助這些人。

My name is Sean Mulholland, professor of economics.

我是肖恩穆赫蘭，經濟學教授。

And I believe there are ways to fix the system.

我相信有辦法修復這個系統。

If you'd like to learn more about these issues and explore potential alternatives, please join me for a free online program at Learn Liberty Academy.

如果你想了解更多關於這些問題和探索潛在的替代方案，請加入我在學習自由學院的免費在線課程。

Please click here to register.

請點擊此處註冊。

I hope to see you there.

我希望在那裡見到你。