"When this book was first published in 1987 it was widely acclaimed as a comprehensive and definitive text on the economics of the welfare state. Its main argument is that the different parts of the welfare state - cash benefits, health care, education and housing - exist not just to help the poor, but also for efficiency reasons, in areas where private markets would be inefficient or would not exist at all."--Jacket. "Nicholas Barr has included a number of new, largely forward-looking, topics in this latest edition: anticipation of the new Labour government's policies in areas such as pensions; longer-term insurance to cover disability and residential care in old age; the impact of genetic screening on medical insurance and life insurance; challenges to the welfare state, including demographic change, changes in family structure, the trend towards the feminization of poverty, and changes in the structure of jobs; and debates about the welfare state - is it desirable; and, if desirable, is it any longer feasible given demographic and other challenges?"--Jacket. "The Economics of the Welfare State continues to be essential reading for upper level undergraduate and first year graduate students of public economics, and social and public policy."--Jacket.