Does social policy meet social needs?

摘要

Social policy is broadly concerned with the public provision of (public or private) goods and services to meet human needs. This article asks whether the actions typically undertaken by the state or statutory agencies to meet a defined set of basic needs - thus falling under the rubric of 'social policy' - succeed in meeting these objectives, and, if not, what steps are needed to remedy the mismatch between provision and needs? In the light of rapidly evolving views on the role of the state in welfare provision, and greater availability of information on the livelihood strategies and coping mechanisms of poor people, we argue that alternative approaches to social policy in low-income economies are urgently needed.