Comparative social policy the economics of welfare state

1. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
© Oxford University Press, 2005. All rights reserved.
Chapter 2: The historical
background
Barr: Economics of the Welfare State:
4e

2. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
© Oxford University Press, 2005. All rights reserved.
Organization of the chapter
1. Early days
2. The Liberal reforms
3. The First World War and the inter-war period
in the UK
4. Inter-war poverty relief in the USA
5. The Second World War and its aftermath
6. Post-war developments in the UK and USA
7. Concluding issues: From the past to the
present

3. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
© Oxford University Press, 2005. All rights reserved.
1 Early days
• The Poor Law Act 1601
• The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
• Early factory legislation
• Early education activities
• Public health activities

4. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
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2 The Liberal reforms

5. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
© Oxford University Press, 2005. All rights reserved.
2.1 The origins of the reforms
• Pressure from below
• Changing attitudes
• Institutional influences

6. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
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2.2 The new measures
• Children
• Pensions
• Unemployment and minimum wages
• Health
• How radical were the reforms?

7. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
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3 The First World War and the
inter-war period in the UK
• Action on housing after the First World
War
• The collapse of unemployment
insurance in the early 1930s

8. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
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4 Inter-war poverty relief in the
USA
• The roots of the New Deal: until 1933
the federal government paid no grants
and organized no programmes for relief
or insurance
• The Social Security Act 1935
• How radical was the Act?

9. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
© Oxford University Press, 2005. All rights reserved.
5 The Second World War and its
aftermath
• The Beveridge Report, 1942
• The Education Act 1944
• The National Health Service Act 1946
• The National Insurance Act 1946
• The National Assistance Act 1948

10. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
© Oxford University Press, 2005. All rights reserved.
6 Post-war developments in the
UK and USA

11. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
© Oxford University Press, 2005. All rights reserved.
6.1 The UK
• The postwar period: consolidation and
extension
• The 1980s and early 1990s: attempted
retrenchment (‘Thatcherism’)
• After 1997: New Labour

12. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
© Oxford University Press, 2005. All rights reserved.
6.2 The USA
• The postwar period: expansion: OAI
(1935); OASI (1939); OASDI (1956);
OASDHI (1965)
• The 1960s and the ‘welfare explosion’
• The growth slowdown: policy since the
early 1970s

13. 2 H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n
© Oxford University Press, 2005. All rights reserved.
7 Concluding issues: From the
past to the present
• Interpreting the forces creating the
welfare state: ideology or
industrialization?
• What was created: a component of the
good society, or a prop to capitalism?