Welfare State

THE Welfare State is everywhere in the news. It has done more; it has captured the imagination of many people to the point that it has become a political desire of great force. The attainment of a Welfare State was proclaimed at the Nasik Congress as the end of economic policy. And to this resolution, unlike the one which dealt with the economic programme and controls, there was no dissenting voice.

It may seem curious that where such unanimity has been exhibited, there is almost no appreciation of the content of the resolution or the ingredients of a Welfare State. What are the means to its attainment? Are its ends productive of new enterprise or do they supply wider disincentives by reason of increased charity un related to effort? What is the price a community has to pay for this increased charity? How hard and how long is the journey?

These questions need urgently to be answered. And it was obvious that the best answer could be given only by one who has had experience over many years of the working of the ingredients of a Welfare State. Great Britain is the country most often so described, and the Eastern Economist" has, therefore, sought the assis tance of a British writer of distinction who could put the case fairly, as well as critically, measuring the gains involved in the Welfare State against the economic dis incentives generated in a country to which welfare eco nomics has contributed more than anywhere else in the world.