ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: English Poor laws, social justice and economic efficiency - History of a debate
Author: CLEMENT ALAIN
At the end of the eighteenth century in England, a new poor law, well known as Speenhamland System was laid down. This new poor law is the beginning of the history of the basic income. The economists of this time (Malthus, Ricardo, Chalmers mainly) debated on the topic but criticized the decision of the government which set up a right to subsistence. However, this experimentation, beyond the social justice’s target, is a real example of economic efficiency and equity. This paper will present firstly a brief history of this social policy and the economic and political framework of this new legislation. In a second time, we shall present the debate among liberal economists, and the opposition to this kind of basic income, without forgetting the original attitude of some conservative economists as W. Lloyd or radical as G. P. Scrope or J. R. Mc Culloch. In a third time, we shall show how the Speenhamland system was finally a good idea which mixes efficiency and equity. The works of recent historians from the beginning of the sixteenth testify this attitude.
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