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Abstract

Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 73-91 (2000)

“From the Poor Law to the Welfare State -Economists on the Poverty and Unemployment Problems around the Turn of the Century-”
Tamotsu Nishizawa (The Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University)

This survey article aims to clarify some aspects of the economic thoughts and institutions from the perceptions of poverty and unemployment in the late 19th century to the social welfare legislations in the early 20th century. 'The new generation of economists', i. e., Marshall and the Oxford economists are compared to 'the older economists' who provided the intellectual basis of the poor law, and the intellectual basis of the welfare state in its beginning is discussed. The 'rational bureaucrats' in the Board of Trade, Llewellyn Smith and Beveridge are treated in relation to the Labour Department and the laws of labour exchange and unemployment insurance.