Welfare reform, 1834: Did the New Poor Law in England produce significant economic gains?

Gregory Clark and Marianne Page

Cliometrica, 2019, vol. 13, issue 2, No 3, 244 pages

Abstract: Abstract The English Old Poor Law, which before 1834 provided welfare to the elderly, children, the improvident, and the unfortunate, was a bête noire of the new discipline of Political Economy. Smith, Bentham, Malthus, and Ricardo all claimed it created significant social costs and increased rather than reduced poverty. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, drafted by Political Economists, cuts payments sharply. Because local rules on eligibility and provision varied greatly before the 1834 reform, we can estimate the social costs of the extensive welfare provision of the Old Poor Law. Surprisingly there is no evidence of any of the alleged social costs that prompted the harsh treatment of the poor after 1834. Political economy, it seems, was born in sin.

Keywords: Welfare reform; Poverty; Welfare systems; Work incentives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J6 N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11698-018-0174-4

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