ABSTRACT
Coincident with these increasing demands upon the welfare state have been declining revenues. In large measure these are a consequence of the economic problems encountered by the industrialised nations in the 1970s. For a variety of reasons, a combination of high inflation and rising unemployment led to the need for expenditure cuts in welfare services. The extent of the pressures upon the welfare state in particular countries can be related to some extent to the nature of their welfare systems (Walsh, 1995). In countries where welfare issues have tended to be divorced from issues of economic growth-the UK, Australia and New Zealand-then public spending was seen as a major contributor to economic decline. However, in those nations with more integrated welfare states, such as Sweden and Germany, economic problems impacted to a lesser degree upon the welfare state.
