Open AccessGovernment’s Income Support Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic
Author(s) -
Michael Fletcher
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
policy quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2324-1101
pISSN - 2324-1098
DOI - 10.26686/pq.v16i3.6560
Subject(s) - earnings , pandemic , covid-19 , government (linguistics) , context (archaeology) , welfare , welfare state , income support , economics , public economics , political science , demographic economics , finance , market economy , geography , politics , macroeconomics , law , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , disease , archaeology , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Income support policy was already a contentious issue before the arrival of Covid-19, but it has assumed increased significance as a result of the job losses and disruption to people’s earnings following the border closures, trade disruption and the period of nationwide lockdown. This article documents the government’s income support and social welfare responses to the pandemic and places them in the context of the pre-existing debates around welfare policy. The article finishes with a brief discussion of possible future directions for the welfare state.