1 / 16

The Australian echo of Speenhamland

Explore the historical context and repercussions of the Speenhamland system on social policy, including its impact on wages, labor supply, and family dynamics. Reflect on the debates and assessments by renowned economists and policy experts. Understand the long-lasting effects and the evolution of welfare policies in Australia.

rmerkel
Download Presentation

The Australian echo of Speenhamland

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Australian echo of Speenhamland Rob Bray ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods History of Economic Thought Society of Australia 30th Annual Conference 25-27 September 2017

  2. Structure • The Speenhamland system • The Poor Law Commissioners’ Report • Representation in the economic canon • The reappraisal • Implications for social policy • Australia • Reflections

  3. Elizabethan Poor-Laws • Long history • Local Parish level response • Administration by local magistrates • Funded by local taxes • Context 1790 - 1830 • Enclosure & agricultural restructuring and mechanisation • Manufacturing & collapse of cottage industry • French Revolution/Napoleonic wars • Civil unrest

  4. Speenhamland system (1) • Meeting Pelican Inn in Speenhamland, 6th May 1795 • Had power to set minimum wage • Income supplement to bring wages up to a minimum • Family size • Cost of food: ‘gallon loaf’

  5. Speenhamland system (2) • Was widespread • Took various forms • How assistance provided • Employment arrangements • Subject to strong criticisms & sundry pamphleteers • Malthus • Ricardo • Bentham Blaug 1963, 158

  6. Royal Commission into the poor laws • 9 Commissioners 1832-1834 • Edwin Chadwick & Nassau W Senior • Collected extensive data • Findings: • ‘has created whatever it was intended to prevent, and fostered whatever it was intended to discourage • ‘destructive of the morals of the most numerous class and the welfare of all • ‘bounty on indolence and vice

  7. Report of Poor Law Commissioners 1834 • Rejected the allowance system • Lowered wages • Depressed work effort • Increased fertility & weakened family • Gave rise to multi-generational dependence • Consequence: Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 • Targeted • Workhouse based

  8. The economic canon

  9. Reappraisal (1) • Early critiques • Hammond & Hammond (1911), Tawney (1926), Webb & Webb (1929) • Early analysis • Mond (1927), Blackmore & Mellonie (1927 & 1928) • The revisionists • Huzel (1963), Blaug (1963, 1964), Boyer (1989,1990), Block & Somers (2003)

  10. Reappraisal (2) • Population ? • Mixed findings, but certainly no explosion • Productivity ? • No evidence of a downturn • Wages ? • No negative impact • Spending ? • Not associated with allowance system • What did the program do ? • Seasonal unemployment – maintain rural labour supply

  11. The implications for social policy • Pigou (1914) • Mechanism & not public spending the problem • Hirschman (1988) • Perverse effect doctrine • Block & Somers (2003 & 2005) • Direct – Moynihan • Indirect – embedded in new anti-welfare doctrines

  12. In Australia

  13. Also policy debates • Pre-federation – aversion to outdoor relief • Age Pension – 1906 • Maternity Allowance – 1912 • Child endowment – 1920 on • Royal Commission on Child endowment –1928 • Evidence – especially on employer side • Mills & Brigden

  14. Royal Commission on Child Endowment • Majority report rejected • ‘By removing from parents all financial responsibility for their children, parental responsibility would be weakened, incentive to effort reduced, and the sense of unity of interest between parents lessened’

  15. Conclusion • The results of poor analysis can be persistent • Especially when it can be used as anecdotes to support our priors • Is simplified • and becomes the accepted wisdom • Consequences for economic and social policy.

More Related