Critical Study Of Western Welfare Economics

Historically,welfare evolved from economic relief to the poor people to modern social security system.Welfare is a broad term,concerning people's basic rights and benefits.It constitutes an important part of social development and is a sign of modernity in most countries.The western welfare economics is a branch of western economic theory.This effectiveness based theory explores how to maximize human social welfare and address problems arising from the market-driven capitalist economy and offers effective measures for social risks and social problems in the market economy.As social economy developed and social forms alternated,crisis frequently occurred in economies guided by western welfare economics.How to get rid of economic crisis and solve it in theory as well as in real life-this arouses people's concern and dispute over western welfare economics.Western history is abundant with welfare economic theories.Old welfare economics proposed by Pigou,which advocated the increase of national welfare through enlarging national overall wealth;new welfare economics put forward by Pareto,Samuelson and Tibor Scitovsky,which argue that the maximization of national wealth should be achieved by“giving priority to efficiency”.Post welfare economics presented by Amartya Sen,which emphasizes social selection and personal capability.Although the western welfare economics existed and developed for hundreds of years,it still can come out of the clutch of capitalist system.Though in the welfare economics,fairness and efficiency are regarded as indicators of social welfare improvement,the western welfare economics can't jump out of the malicious circle because the bourgeoisie are greedy in the pursuit of surplus value and they ignore the first distribution and their private ownership.After reflection on the difficulties faced by western welfare economics and analysis of its root cause from the perspective of system and ways of distribution,we discover that its theory is ultimately nothing more than revisionism to support the doctrine of the bourgeoisie.Marxist welfare theory is based on public ownership,explores how to guarantee the mass the welfare they deserved through their work from the point view of proletariat.So it is safe to say that it excelled western welfare theory.There is no doubt that western welfare economic theory has,to some extent,facilitated the development of capitalism,it also makes enormous contribution to the following areas: mitigation of social contradictions,maintenance of political stability,promotion of economic prosperity and social progress,and establishment of welfare system.Therefore,western welfare economics could offer us some experiences for reference in our social welfare drive.During the forty years after opening up and reform,China has created an economic miracle and entered the ranks of middle-income countries.Nowadays,it is experiencing rapid industrialization,urbanization and modernization.On the new starting point,the social welfare reform undoubtedly will have an influence in a bigger picture.We must examine thoroughly the western welfare economic theory,and then sublate it so as to create a diversified social welfare system with Chinese characteristics.First,we should maintain the predominating role of government and guarantee the high effectiveness of our system;second,we should improve institutional support for social welfare drive,create a sound economic environment and maintain social stability;third,we should build a diversified social welfare system with Chinese characteristics.At present,the singleness and static state of social welfare development cannot meet people's demands.A plural and dynamic mode is needed to build social welfare framework with Chinese characteristics and to bring more benefits to the whole nation.