NOTEs
Edwin Chadwick
Relevant Background Information
• “Clear-thinking man of action”
• 1832 - English government appointed the Royal Commission - inquire workings of Poor Law and how to improve it.
• Leading commissioner
• Made it known that system needed to be reformed to stop the citisens from demanding public funds – usually unnecessary
Controversy
• 1834 – measure passed, Chadwick didn’t get what he wanted (thought he would take charge of New Poor Law)
• Only made secretary – disappointed, inferior
• Clash with the 3 Commissioners, George Nicholls, Thomas Frankland Lewis and JG Shaw-Lefevre
• Advice to introduce the New Poor Law in the North was rejected
Achievements
• 1842 - “Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring …show more content…
• Direct link between poor living conditions and disease and life expectancy
• “Existence of a mass preventable illness and premature death in the community caused by insanitary physical circumstances” – much of evidence for existence was anecdotal
• Chapter about differential class-based death data - measured the average age of death of a specific class – called “average period of life” or “chance of life”
• Inspired Public Health Act of 1848 and general Board of Health – first director
Nassau Senior
Relevant Background Information
• First professor – chair of political economy
• Held poor laws responsible for existence of pauperism
• Put together final report by drawing a few supporting instances from the subcommissioners reports
• “The poor laws, as administered in the southern districts of England, are an attempt to unite the irreconcilable advantages of freedom and servitude.”
• Combination of coercion and missing incentives – lead to begging and dependency
• Concerned that custom of granting outdoor relief on relatively attractive terms – exacerbate incentives for indolence
• Report built on classical awareness of the importance of incentives in economic behaviours – based on his economic background
•
Edwin Chadwick
Relevant Background Information
• “Clear-thinking man of action”
• 1832 - English government appointed the Royal Commission - inquire workings of Poor Law and how to improve it.
• Leading commissioner
• Made it known that system needed to be reformed to stop the citisens from demanding public funds – usually unnecessary
Controversy
• 1834 – measure passed, Chadwick didn’t get what he wanted (thought he would take charge of New Poor Law)
• Only made secretary – disappointed, inferior
• Clash with the 3 Commissioners, George Nicholls, Thomas Frankland Lewis and JG Shaw-Lefevre
• Advice to introduce the New Poor Law in the North was rejected
Achievements
• 1842 - “Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring …show more content…
• Direct link between poor living conditions and disease and life expectancy
• “Existence of a mass preventable illness and premature death in the community caused by insanitary physical circumstances” – much of evidence for existence was anecdotal
• Chapter about differential class-based death data - measured the average age of death of a specific class – called “average period of life” or “chance of life”
• Inspired Public Health Act of 1848 and general Board of Health – first director
Nassau Senior
Relevant Background Information
• First professor – chair of political economy
• Held poor laws responsible for existence of pauperism
• Put together final report by drawing a few supporting instances from the subcommissioners reports
• “The poor laws, as administered in the southern districts of England, are an attempt to unite the irreconcilable advantages of freedom and servitude.”
• Combination of coercion and missing incentives – lead to begging and dependency
• Concerned that custom of granting outdoor relief on relatively attractive terms – exacerbate incentives for indolence
• Report built on classical awareness of the importance of incentives in economic behaviours – based on his economic background
•