The neoliberals believed that a market-conforming social policy must not stifle the system of risks and incentives that produced familial responsibility and submission to the market. Concretely, this meant that any government payments must be minimalist (sufficient to prevent destitution, but no more) and targeted at the poorest citizens through strict means-testing. There could be no universal provision, no expectation of social insurance 'as of right', and certainly no use of welfare to redistribute wealth in the interest of greater equality.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 208