Welfare State



Income inequality in most high-income countries has increased considerably since the 1970s, creating interest in the drivers of this trend. One factor that has attracted… Read More ›

Winners of the UK Tax-Benefit Reforms over Five Decades

We live in strange economic times. Over the last few years, Australian business profits have boomed just as economic growth has trended down to ‘ultra-low’… Read More ›

The Great Fiscal Shift: Inequality, Upwards Redistribution and the Politics of Surplus Since Howard

The introduction of Universal Credit has been described as one of the most important social security policy changes in the UK since the Beveridge Report more than… Read More ›

A ‘Fresh Approach to Universal Credit’ – Are There Lessons from Australia?

Classifying transactions as taxes can be problematic, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding the legal meaning of ‘tax’. While it is reasonably easy to identify a… Read More ›

On the Meaning of ‘Tax’

Just as starfish are not fish, strawberries are not berries, and Chinese Checkers are neither Chinese nor checkers, the Newstart Allowance does not really offer… Read More ›

Increase in Newstart Allowance Long Overdue

A key aim of the welfare system in Australia is to provide a buffer against unexpected or unpredictable events that reduce one’s income stability. Relationship… Read More ›

Welfare Entry and Exit After Marital Separation Among Australian Mothers

Peter Fisher, Treasury under-secretary in George W. Bush’s administration, once memorably described the US government as “a gigantic insurance company (with a sideline business in national defense… Read More ›

Why Social Policy Counts

Thirty years after Prime Minister Bob Hawke famously promised that by 1990 no Australian child would live in poverty, Bill Shorten has promised that, if… Read More ›

It’s Not Just Newstart. Single Parents Are $271 per Fortnight Worse Off. Labor Needs an Overarching Welfare Review

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