Beveridge and Social Security: An International Retrospective

ISBN-13: 9780198288060 / Angielski / Twarda / 1994 / 264 str.

John Hills; John Ditch; Howard Glennerster

Opis

The Beveridge Report of 1942 captured the public imagination with its principles of universal social insurance in Britain. Beveridge's idea was to use universal benefits to remove the poverty caused by contingencies such as unemployment or disability. This book examines the underlying assumptions of Beveridge's scheme, the circumstances surrounding its implementation, and its short- and long-term effects on social security in Britain and around the world. The contributors argue that the reality, over the past fifty years, has been vastly different from the principles and vision Beveridge expressed. They conclude that there has been in Britain a move away from universally available benefits to means-tested income support. Despite this, the editors argue that Beveridge's important legacy has been the notion of a national minimum income: a safety net covering all. This idea has substantial present-day relevance as the countries of the European Community debate the issue of political and economic convergence.

Recenzje

The first part of the volume is really provocative. Not so much because of its interesting insights in the origin and aftermath of the report, but because of the fact that the various contributions present in all its tones the paradoxes and contradictions of this historical event.