Claimed for Insurance by Industry-Objections to In- surance by Industry-Health Insurance-Workmen's Compensation-Old Age Pensions-Widows' and Orphans' Housing and Health-Growth of the Housing Problem: (a) Unrestricted and Uncontrolled Building, 1800-48— (b) Regulation of House Building, 1848-90—(c) Consolida- tion and Extension of Legislation, 1890-1915-Town Planning-(d) The War and Post-War period-Cost of Building-Shortage of Skilled Labour-Restric- tion of Rents-State Subsidies and State Housing- Housing Legislation since the War: The Addison Scheme, 1919-The Chamberlain Scheme, 1923-The Wheatley Scheme, 1924-The Question of Future Policy -The Case for a State Housing Policy. APPENDICES: EXTRACTS FROM OFFICIAL REPORTS A. Operation of the Trade Boards Acts. UNIV. OF CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Economics is a social science, and "Social Economics," therefore, might seem needless reiteration. Social The Nature of The distinction is suggested more by common usage of the terms than by any inherent difference in their meaning. Economics is Economics. a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life; it examines that part of individual and social action which is most closely connected with the attainment and with the use of the material requisites of wellbeing. Thus it is on the one side a study of wealth; and on the other and more important side, a part of the study of man." Marshall's well-known definition emphasises the human element in Economics that had been neglected by the writers of the early nineteenth century. The recognition that Economics was primarily a study of man brought it into closer relation with the other social sciences than had been possible when it was regarded merely as a science of wealth-getting and wealth-spending. As a pure science, Economics may be taken to exclude ethical, psychological, and political considerations, unless they directly affect the question of producing, exchanging, distributing and consuming wealth. But in the practical application of the science, it is impossible to disregard these non-economic influences, for they SOC. ECON. I play at least an equal part with the economic in determining man's welfare. In one sense Social Economics is more restricted, in another it is more comprehensive, than Economics. It is more restricted in that it concentrates on those sections of the parent science that deal with the actual conditions in which people work and live. It is specially concerned with such problems as the nature and extent of poverty, the wages system, the environment of the worker in the factory and the home, unemployment and its prevention and relief. The doctrines of pure Economics with regard to the fundamental principles of value and exchange are, in this book, accepted without question. The monetary and credit system has an important bearing on social questions, but, while the relation is noted, no attempt can be made here to investigate the underlying operations. For example, economic theory shows that the general -level of prices is largely dependent upon the amount of effective money (credit documents as well as regulated currency) in circulation. The fact that the purchasing power of a worker's wage varies with changes in monetary conditions must obviously be taken into account in any survey of social problems. But it is not so imperative in a book of this description to enter into the why and wherefore of the inter-relation of money and prices. One can assume that the price level is affected in this manner, and therefore proceed immediately to deal with the possibilities of adjusting money wages according to the purchasing power of the standard monetary unit. There are some branches of the subject, however, in which it is not so easy or satisfactory to take the teachings of pure Economics for granted. An analysis of the governing principles is more expedient in some departments of Social Economics than in others. Thus, in the following chapters, a little attention is given to the theory of wages, but the theories of rent, interest and profits are not specifically examined. This is not because the principles of wages are more important, even from the social standpoint, than those governing other forms of distribution. In a sense there is no special theory for each, for they are all determined by similar laws, and one cannot be adequately discussed without reference to the others. The reason why wages only are considered lies in the restricted aim of this work. A knowledge of the factors influencing wages is essential to any inquiry into such problems as (say) a national minimum wage or the relation between men's and women's wages. Yet, notwithstanding these limitations, Social Economics Social Non-economic might be regarded as wider in scope than Economics as usually understood. In so far as it takes cognisance of non-economic factors (and no account of social problems would be satisfactory if it did not) Social Economics rests on a broader basis than ordinary economic doctrine. The conception of "utility" will serve to illustrate this distinction. In orthodox Economics, utility is defined as the attribute of anything that can satisfy a want. The economist takes great pains to stress the non-moral element in utility. It is not the primary concern of the economist to decide whether the satisfaction of a particulat want is beneficial or harmful in any sense other than the economic. A drug may or may not be put to a vicious use; from the strict economic standpoint the position merely is that the demand for a drug has given rise to activities which are directed to satisfying that want. The wheels of production are set in motion, and a certain proportion of the community's resources are appropriated for the purpose. Social Economics would belie its name if it did not pay attention to injurious and inequitable forms of production |