The economics of the welfare state Book

When this book was first published in 1987 it was widely acclaimed as a comprehensive and definitive text on the economics of the welfare state. Its main argument is that the different parts of the welfare state - cash benefits, health care, education and housing - exist not just to help the poor, but also for efficiency reasons, in areas where private markets would be inefficient or would not exist at all. Nicholas Barr has included a number of new, largely forward-looking, topics in this latest edition: anticipation of the new Labour government's policies in areas such as pensions; longer-term insurance to cover disability and residential care in old age; the impact of genetic screening on medical insurance and life insurance; challenges to the welfare state, including demographic change, changes in family structure, the trend towards the feminization of poverty, and changes in the structure of jobs; and debates about the welfare state - is it desirable; and, if desirable, is it any longer feasible given demographic and other challenges? The Economics of the Welfare State continues to be essential reading for upper level undergraduate and first year graduate students of public economics, and social and public policy.