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From Universalism to Safety Nets: The Rise and Fall of Keynesian Influence on Social Development

In: Social Policy in a Development Context

Author

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  • Peter Townsend

Abstract

The history of social policy during the last hundred years would be seriously incomplete without giving a full account of the dramatic influence of John Maynard Keynes. He was instrumental in helping Europe recover from the Second World War of 1939–45 — in contrast to the failures after the First — and in establishing the Bretton Woods institutions and the welfare state. Social development lay at the heart of his concern — in the construction of practical policies as much as in his astute handling of economic theory. He cut the ground from beneath the feet of classical and neo-classical economic theorists, and the policies he recommended were found to work in practice. Certainly the early postwar years represent an acknowledged watershed in world history. If not exactly a thing of the past mass unemployment was no longer an immediate threat. Recovery and economic progress were real. Inequality had been reduced. Colonial powers were in retreat.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Townsend, 2004. "From Universalism to Safety Nets: The Rise and Fall of Keynesian Influence on Social Development," Social Policy in a Development Context, in: Thandika Mkandawire (ed.), Social Policy in a Development Context, chapter 2, pages 37-62, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:sopchp:978-0-230-52397-5_2
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230523975_2
    as

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