Liberal economists and the British welfare state: from Beveridge to the New Right

Citation

Peden G (2017) Liberal economists and the British welfare state: from Beveridge to the New Right. In: Backhouse R, Bateman B, Nishizawa T & Plehwe D (eds.) Liberalism and the Welfare State: Economists and Arguments for the Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 39-56. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/liberalism-and-the-welfare-state-9780190676681?cc=gb〈=en&; https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780190676681.003.0003

Abstract
The chapter explores changing liberal attitudes to the welfare state. Hayek shared much common ground with Beveridge and Keynes in the 1940s, but saw postwar expansion of welfare services combined with inflationary full-employment policy as a threat to individual liberty. Other liberal economists thought Hayek exaggerated the threat, but were nevertheless critical of state monopoly in welfare provision and were keen to maintain the independence and individual responsibility of citizens. From the 1960s neoliberal ideas that had originally been conceived within the Liberal Party became associated with Conservatism and the New Right. The New Right had a considerable impact on housing policy and set an agenda for free-market alternatives in the provision of health and education services.

Keywords
Beveridge; Hayek; Keynes; inflation; liberal; neoliberal; New Right; unemployment; welfare state

People

Professor George Peden

Emeritus Professor, History