The Economics of Decision Making in the Social Services

Abstract

One of the universal by‐products of sustained economic growth in western societies, over the last thirty years or so, has been greater public expenditure in the area of such social services as health, housing, education, social security, and social work, although that expenditure has often been shown to be unequal or inequitable in its distribution. This overall growth in the “welfare” role of the state is common to all western industrialised countries, despite their very different histories and political complexions. Specifically, the state has become a dominant, or at any rate a major financier or provider, of a number of these social services, so that it is claimed the average inhabitant of an industrialised country is now “more healthy, better educated, better housed and better off financially in 1980 than he was in 1950”.

Citation

Lee, K. (1982), "The Economics of Decision Making in the Social Services", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 50-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013914