Welfare vs Growth. Which is better? The automatic choice for most people would be welfare. But there is a trade-off as welfare has to be paid for by taxes, and this book shows that fundamentally growth is preferable to welfare. People have benefited throughout history more from growth than welfare. At the basic level, it is simple arithmetic. If you are given a choice of a certain amount of welfare and the no growth for a number of years, as against no welfare but steady growth for the same number of years, a simple calculation shows that in most cases people benefit more for growth than welfare. This book discusses counterclaims regarding distribution, fairness, socialist ideology, and other reasons put forward for the need for welfare. In only the case of a small fraction of the population who cannot support themselves, is welfare preferable to growth.