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Financing Social Policy pp 89–114Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

How Can the Financing of Social Services be Made Pro-Poor?

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Part of the book series: Social Policy in a Development Context ((SPDC))

Abstract

The mainstream view of development posits that if economic growth is maximized, the levels of poverty will be reduced, and this will result in increases in welfare (in a more or less automatic fashion). Thus, much policy making occurs under a leader/follower hierarchy model, where macroeconomic policy is determined first, while social policy is derivative and left to address the social consequences of economic policies (Atkinson 1999). This separation of the ‘economic’ from the ‘social’ discourse is inherent to the Washington consensus and the neoclassical theory which underpins it. Moreover, under this view, only certain policies ensure economic growth. In contrast, social policy can and should be understood as ‘collective interventions in the economy to influence the access to and the incidence of adequate and secure livelihoods and income’ (Mkandawire 2004: 1).

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Authors
  1. Enrique Delamonica
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  2. Santosh Mehrotra
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva, Switzerland

    Katja Hujo (Research Coordinator in the Social Policy and Development Programme) & Shea McClanahan (Research Analyst in the Social Policy and Development Programme, PhD in Government) (Research Coordinator in the Social Policy and Development Programme) &  (Research Analyst in the Social Policy and Development Programme, PhD in Government)

  2. University of Texas, Austin, USA

    Shea McClanahan (Research Analyst in the Social Policy and Development Programme, PhD in Government) (Research Analyst in the Social Policy and Development Programme, PhD in Government)

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© 2009 UNRISD

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Delamonica, E., Mehrotra, S. (2009). How Can the Financing of Social Services be Made Pro-Poor?. In: Hujo, K., McClanahan, S. (eds) Financing Social Policy. Social Policy in a Development Context. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244337_4

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