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Restructuring the Welfare State: An Analysis of Public Expenditure, 1979/80–1984/85*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Ray Robinson
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Abstract

Since the election of the Thatcher Government in 1979, public expenditure on the welfare state has undergone a series of changes. The nature of change has, however, often been obscured by the use of inadequate and misleading statistical data. This paper presents a systematic examination of public expenditure on education, health care, housing and social security over the period 1979/80 to 1984/85. It shows that, contrary to much political rhetoric, the major changes in the welfare state have not always arisen from reductions in programme expenditures, but from changes in the composition of expenditure. It is the latter that has often increased economic inequality and can be legitimately referred to as ‘restructuring’.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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