Consider a marginal government subsidy given either through welfare or negative income tax. Either is valid as both are equally destructive. In the example, the citizen on subsidy receives the market equivalent of eleven dollars per hour. The citizen's market value is irrelevant, but a comparison of various hypothetical value to society can illustrate why the moral agent is lazy.

If the subsidy is worth eleven dollars per hour but the moral agent is worth 10 dollars per hour (the moral agent is uneducated, or unskilled, or young) then there is absolutely no incentive to work as the return on effort results in a loss in revenue.

If the subsidy is worth eleven dollars per hour but the moral agent is worth 13 dollars per hour, then there is still less incentive to work. The agent considers the benefit of employment versus unemployment, and the net benefit is 2 dollars per hour. In most cases this means the moral agent loses money by engaging in employment.

Welfare decreases the utility gained by working, causing people to shift towards more leisure time while still satisfying higher demand priorities. In short, welfare makes any person who receives it, ceteris paribus, "lazy".