Ranked as the most austere economic crisis of global proportions in modern times, the Great Depression resonated throughout America, Europe and the western world. It exposed the inability of political and financial institutions to cope, and the crisis quickly sparked a worldwide economic slump. One of the major consequences and legacy of the Great Depression was unemployment, and this essay aims to critically analyse the impact the Great Depression and unemployment had on health and well-being. To ascertain the sufficiency of welfare provision in both the US and Great Britain this paper will first look at Britain and then the US to understand the reality of provision against Government perception in both countries. It will provide a précis
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Organisations who in the past they could turn to no longer had the resources to support those in most need. Eichengreen asserts that during the interwar period, ministry of health experts in Britain denied that unemployment had adverse effects on health. He argued that the MOH were unconvinced that illness was concentrated where unemployment was highest, and noted that the death rate, nor the infant mortality rate rose significantly between the 1920s and 1930s. Thane also reinforces this argument and states that Governments were reluctant to acknowledge the effects of unemployment in malnutrition and ill health.
Despite this, Borowy states that health specialists globally tried to identify visible causes the Depression impacted on health, and in their quest for answers sought guidance from the League of Nations Health Organisation (LNHO). With approximately 50m to 60m people globally affected by unemployment concern of possible health risks in countries affected by the Great Depression was a …show more content…
Webster argues that the sheer lack of consistency within local authorities coupled with local political agendas was chaotic and he was of the belief that unemployment benefits and poor relief scales were insufficiently thought out to provide the benefits needed to ward off starvation. He further asserts that the much vaunted welfare benefit for the provision of free school meals would have made a real impact in improving the health and well being of large sections of the population, had it been administered in the way it was initially intended. Webster argues that there was a resolve to inhibit school meals from becoming a nationally accessible benefit as this was strictly controlled by a means test and by medical inspection. Shockingly by1939 only 2% of the school population was in receipt of free school
Organisations who in the past they could turn to no longer had the resources to support those in most need. Eichengreen asserts that during the interwar period, ministry of health experts in Britain denied that unemployment had adverse effects on health. He argued that the MOH were unconvinced that illness was concentrated where unemployment was highest, and noted that the death rate, nor the infant mortality rate rose significantly between the 1920s and 1930s. Thane also reinforces this argument and states that Governments were reluctant to acknowledge the effects of unemployment in malnutrition and ill health.
Despite this, Borowy states that health specialists globally tried to identify visible causes the Depression impacted on health, and in their quest for answers sought guidance from the League of Nations Health Organisation (LNHO). With approximately 50m to 60m people globally affected by unemployment concern of possible health risks in countries affected by the Great Depression was a …show more content…
Webster argues that the sheer lack of consistency within local authorities coupled with local political agendas was chaotic and he was of the belief that unemployment benefits and poor relief scales were insufficiently thought out to provide the benefits needed to ward off starvation. He further asserts that the much vaunted welfare benefit for the provision of free school meals would have made a real impact in improving the health and well being of large sections of the population, had it been administered in the way it was initially intended. Webster argues that there was a resolve to inhibit school meals from becoming a nationally accessible benefit as this was strictly controlled by a means test and by medical inspection. Shockingly by1939 only 2% of the school population was in receipt of free school