Among older men in England from 1971 to 1981 the increase in the extent of those defined as disabled was of the same order as the increase in unemployment. Using Census data for the forty-six counties of England, changes in disability, retirement and economic activity are related to changes in unemployment. A substantial proportion of the overall increase in disability and the decline in economic activity is attributable to the general rise in unemployment.

Frequent increases in the real value of National Health Service (NHS) patient charges have been made since the Conservative Party's return to office in 1979. For those patients subject to these charges the increases have led to a substantial reduction in the level of subsidization of the cost of the service. The rationale for the subsidization of health care is shown to be unrelated to ‘ability to pay’ considerations. Consequently the ‘backdoor privatization’ of these services is inconsistent with the objectives of the NHS even though the Government has continually committed itself to these objectives. Alternative policies to increasing patient charges are suggested which would encourage the efficient use of NHS resources without compromising NHS objectives.

The distributional impact of different transfer programmes is one of the basic criteria on which decisions such as those on resource allocation may be based. This paper examines the spread over the UK size distribution of different transfers, using data from the Family Expenditure Survey (FES). In addition to analysing the distribution of current transfer receipts by actual current income, estimates are developed which allow the spread of annual receipts by annual income to be examined. The results show that the short-term unemployment and sickness benefits have a considerably greater degree of concentration towards the bottom of the distribution than some previous studies have indicated. This is particularly true for current income, but even for annual receipts and income the degree of concentration is greater than might have been expected. The impression that these benefits have a very low redistributive effect may have had a major influence on recent policy decisions. This is shown to be particularly misleading in the case of unemployment benefit.

Differentials in unemployment among young adult males are shown to be particularly associated with two factors: housing tenure and early childbearing. Even after controlling for factors such as social class and area of residence, local authority tenants have unemployment rates two or three times as high as owner-occupiers of a similar age. For movers between tenures these differentials are even greater; movers from owner-occupation to local authority tenancy have four times the unemployment rate of those moving in the opposite direction. Large differentials by the family situation of young people are also found, with childless married couples having particularly low unemployment rates. These two aspects are connected by the effect of childbearing filtering couples into different tenures. Finally, the implications for increased social polarization between the two major tenures, and the likely effect on future tenure levels, are discussed.

This paper describes housing policy in the Netherlands and the current crisis over subsidies. It argues that the development of the welfare state, the housing system, and recent retrenchment contain contradictions which reflect the distinctive nature of Dutch politics and social structure. In particular, it suggests that the existence of pillarized social cleavages has been influential in the growth of a progressive welfare state, in providing a secure base for social rented housing, and in sustaining high levels of support for spending on housing subsidies. Expenditure cutbacks and measures for administrative rationalization are outlined, and some of the contradictory effects on housing policy are examined.