ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses and analyses what can be included in the study of welfare and public welfare. Welfare is an ambitious concept that often means different things and is therefore ambiguous, and has different connotations for individuals and in different countries. Welfare may be defined as follows: welfare is the highest possible access to economic resources, a high level of well-being, including the happiness of the citizens, a guaranteed minimum income to avoid living in poverty, and having the capabilities to ensure the individual a good life. Public welfare thus to a large degree revolves around an understanding of what the public sector finances and most often what it delivers in terms of income transfers and services. Welfare has been discussed in many and very varied disciplines. Economists talk about utility, sociologists about well-being, and philosophers have focused on the good life. Public welfare refers specifically to the welfare decided and mainly financed by the public sector.
