The eighteen years when William Beveridge was Director of the LSE, saw some of the School’s greatest expansion. The years between the wars presented a number of problems discussed in this book, such as those of finding space in the heart of London, of the proper scope and method of economics, of academic self-government and of political activity by university readers of social sciences. The last chapter tells of the author’s forty years of friendship with Sidney and Beatrice Webb, using letters between him and them that had not been published before publication of this book in 1960.

The eighteen years when William Beveridge was Director of the LSE, saw some of the School’s greatest expansion. The years between the wars presented a number of problems discussed in this book, such as those of finding space in the heart of London, of the proper scope and method of economics, of academic self-government and of political activity by university readers of social sciences. The last chapter tells of the author’s forty years of friendship with Sidney and Beatrice Webb, using letters between him and them that had not been published before publication of this book in 1960.

It is the author’s contention that an abundance of voluntary action outside the citizen’s home, both individually and collectively, for bettering his own and his fellows’ lives, are the distinguishing marks of a truly free society. This volume is a study of how such action can be kept alive in the face of the inevitable development of State action and suggests the new forms which co-operation between the State and voluntary Organizations may take, leaving a maximum of freedom and responsibility to the individual. Voluntary Action is a text of unique value because Beveridge here develops his vision of how a large ‘voluntary action’ sector could function as a type of buffer zone between the state and the market.

The eighteen years when William Beveridge was Director of the LSE, saw some of the School's greatest expansion. The years between the wars presented a number of problems discussed in this book, such as those of finding space in the heart of London, of the proper scope and method of economics, of academic self-government and of political activity by university readers of social sciences. The last chapter tells of the author's forty years of friendship with Sidney and Beatrice Webb, using letters between him and them that had not been published before publication of this book in 1960.

William Beveridge (1879-1963) was a key figure in the modernization of British economic and social policy who published widely on unemployment and social security. Among his most notable works and reprinted in this set are, Full Employment in a Free Society (1944), and Pillars of Security (1943). Beveridge’s Report on social insurance was published in 1942. It proposed that all people of working age should pay a weekly national insurance contribution. In return, benefits would be paid to people who were sick, unemployed, retired or widowed. Beveridge included as one of three fundamental assumptions the fact that there would be a National Health Service of some sort. Beveridge's arguments were widely accepted. He argued that welfare institutions would increase the competitiveness of British industry in the post-war period, not only by shifting labour costs like healthcare and pensions onto the public account but also by producing healthier, wealthier and more productive workers. Beveridge saw full employment as the pivot of the social welfare programme he expressed in the 1942 report. As well as making available some of Beveridge’s key, and in some case, lesser known works, this set includes as its final volume an indispensable overview of Beveridge and his prolific work.

The editors have chosen substantial extracts to illustrate the major themes and ideas in Beveridge’s writing over a period of more than four decades, ranging from his book Unemployment, published in 1909, to the Beveridge Report of 1942 and beyond. Sections cover his social philosophy; the crucial role he attributed to social insurance as a technique of welfare; his relation to economics; and the stress he placed on voluntary action in a free society. Each theme is introduced by a full editorial commentary which explains its place in Beveridge’s thought, as well as outlining his position and offering critical guidance to the reader. The return of mass unemployment and continuing debate on the role of the welfare state has revived interest in Beveridge’s work and this reader brings his ideas.

Beveridge defined full employment as a state where there are slightly more vacant jobs than there are available workers, or not more than 3% of the total workforce. This book discusses how this goal might be achieved, beginning with the thesis that because individual employers are not capable of creating full employment, it must be the responsibility of the state. Beveridge claimed that the upward pressure on wages, due to the increased bargaining strength of labour, would be eased by rising productivity, and kept in check by a system of wage arbitration. The cooperation of workers would be secured by the common interest in the ideal of full employment. Alternative measures for achieving full employment included Keynesian-style fiscal regulation, direct control of manpower, and state control of the means of production. The impetus behind Beveridge's thinking was social justice and the creation of an ideal new society after the war. The book was written in the context of an economy which would have to transfer from wartime direction to peace time. It was then updated in 1960, following a decade where the average unemployment rate in Britain was in fact nearly 1.5%.