Show how the state's role in providing welfare and assistance changed Essay

Show how the state's role in providing welfare and assistance changed between 1834 and 1911 and offer reasons for this development - Essay Example The Poor Laws of 1597 and 1601 passed in haste at the end of the Elizabethan era went on to form the basis of social welfare provision for over two hundred years (Hobsbawm, 1962, p. 300). These limited yet frequently required measures were administered with the priority of only assisting the paupers, the old, the unemployed, and the underemployed who were considered to be genuine (Schama, 2002, p. 420). Anybody that the Poor Law administrators believed to be undesearving of assistance had to find work, rely on the charity of others, turn to crime, or face starvation (Hobsbawm, 1975 p. 80). Sometimes to escape poverty in Britain, and to avoid the workhouse people emigrated to British colonies such as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand to build a better live for themselves. The state was content to promote emigration because it strengthened control over colonies whilst reducing the number of poor people in Britain seeking welfare and assistance (Ferguson, 2003 p. 75) The politicians responsible for drafting and then passing the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834 had the express objective of decreasing the cost of social welfare provision instead of broadening the scale not to mention the scope of the government’s involvement in society (Hobsbawm, 1962, p. 301). The Poor Law Amendment Act provided relief for the poorest and the less fortunate members of society but it came at a price for those people. It came at a price because the state in 1834 right through the rest of the 19th century aimed to tightly limit its role in providing welfare and assistance (Hobsbawm, 1987, p. 40). The restriction of state welfare and assistance measures to only the most desperate cases reflected the strong hold of classical liberal thought that the state should only intervene in economic affairs on a very limited basis (Eatwell & Wright, 2003 p.

"Policy Improvements" Coursework 9 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

"Policy Improvements" 9 - Coursework Example timulus and increase in aggregate demand stabilizes prices and increase effectiveness of monetary policies through: increasing demand for labor and government spending, leading to business growth and economic stimulus. It also leads to lower unemployment rate and thus an increase in income per capita, which raises living standards. Therefore, the curve emphasizes the tradeoff between unemployment and the inflation rate. (Meade, & Thornton, 2011). The curve can hence be used to figure out the optimal level of unemployment that gives the desired inflation rate. The objective function can determine the effective and appropriate monetary policy that will lead to the achievement of target economic goals depending on their effect on inflation and output levels. The Function describes the tradeoff between the output gap and the inflation gap and the economy’s responsiveness to deviations of output levels and the inflation rates from their ideals. The weight attached to the inflation rate in the objective function will represent the responsiveness of the economy to the changes in inflation. The function summarizes the total cost to the economy whenever there is an output gap or inflation gap. The output gap occurs whenever the real output of the economy differs from the potential production of the economy while the inflation gap exists whenever there is a deviation of the inflation rate from the ideal inflation rate (Boivin, & Giannoni, 2006). In such situations, the economy bears costs directly and indirectly in the form of underutilizat ion of resources in the case where the output level is below the potential economy and the usage of resources at an unsustainable rate in the case where production is higher than the ideal. When the inflation rate is unexpectedly high, the costs of goods rise resulting in lower consumptions which ultimately leads to lower output and higher unemployment