Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP2147 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details   |   Bibliographic Reference

Full Details

Title: Seebohm Rowntree and the Post-War Poverty Puzzle

Author(s): Roy E Bailey and Timothy J. Hatton

Publication Date: May 1999

Keyword(s): Post-War Britain, Poverty, Seebohm Rowntree, Social Security and Social Surveys

Programme Area(s): Labour Economics and Public Economics

Abstract: In his third social survey of York carried out in 1950, Seebohm Rowntree reported a steep decline since 1936 of the percentage of households in poverty. He attributed the bulk of this decline to government welfare reforms enacted during and after the War. Some observers have been uneasy about these striking results, especially with the rediscovery of poverty in the 1960s. In this paper we re-examine the surviving records from the 1950 survey, making the poverty line more consistent with that of 1936 and looking more closely at the measurement of income. We also re-assess the impact of welfare reforms on working class poverty. We find that poverty in York was significantly higher, and the contribution of welfare reform substantially less, than was originally reported. These findings suggest a less optimistic view of the impact of welfare reforms during the Beveridge era.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=2147

Bibliographic Reference

Bailey, R and Hatton, T. 1999. 'Seebohm Rowntree and the Post-War Poverty Puzzle'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=2147