Principles of the Welfare State (Philosophy & Economics)

Course goals

At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- understand the main economic and philosophical principles underlying the welfare state;
- analyse the welfare state and various welfare state institutions from an economic perspective;
- evaluate the welfare state and various welfare state institutions with insights from contemporary philosophy;
- discover common ground between philosophical and economic research on the welfare state
(Interdisciplinary skills: level perspective taking and finding common ground);
- communicate research in written and verbal form according to the standards of disciplinary and interdisciplinary training at PPE College;
(Professional skills: academic and professional integrity, communication, collaboration).

This course has priority rules and a waiting list.
 

Content

In a welfare state, government seeks to ensure the well-being of its citizens and protect them against social risks through the provision of public goods and social services, such as education, healthcare, old-age pensions, or unemployment benefits. In this course, we analyse the values and principles underlying the welfare state from the perspectives of philosophy and economics.
Economists typically depict welfare state arrangements as involving a trade-off between justice and efficiency. For instance, labour laws can protect workers’ job security based on considerations of justice, but they also raise hiring and firing costs, which reduces efficiency. However, because of their compulsory character, welfare states can solve specific collective action problems more efficiently than voluntary exchanges on markets. One famous economist described the government of a welfare state as “essentially a huge insurance company with an army.” Philosophers reflect on the normative desirability of welfare states, not only in light of the principle of efficiency, but also in terms of justice, and related principles like freedom and equality. Many philosophers argue that the welfare state, for all its imperfections, offers a real-world, institutional translation of principles of justice. Critics claim instead that the welfare state is at once inefficient and unjust. In this course, students will learn to analyse and criticize welfare states with insights from economics and philosophy, and ponder the question if they are to be seen as a curse, a blessing, or both.

This course has priority rules and a waiting list.

Additional information

This course is only open to students from the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Law, Economics, and Governance.

This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you are: 

• a student in the BA PPE enrolled in the thematic package Challenges to the Welfare State.

In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.