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Creeping Universalism in the Welfare State: Evidence from Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Robert E. Goodin  and
Julian Le Grand
Robert E. Goodin
Affiliation:
Government University of Essex
Julian Le Grand
Affiliation:
ST/ICERD and Economics London School of Economics
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Abstract

There are good reasons to suppose that the non-poor will infiltrate welfare programmes originally targeted on the poor. This paper discusses this phenomenon of ‘creeping universalisation’ and provides a number of possible explanations for it. Evidence is used from Australia to show that creeping universalisation does indeed occur, and to test the competing explanations. It is concluded that the most likely explanation for the phenomenon is individual behavioural responses: that is, the non-poor respond to the imposition of a means-test by re-arranging their affairs, legitimately or illegitimately, so as to pass the test.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , July 1986 , pp. 255 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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