Social Welfare Policy and Management

LaFollette School of Public Affairs

Public Affairs 882

Instructor: Carolyn Heinrich

Social Welfare Policy and Management is a seminar course for graduate students that addresses a broad array of social welfare policies—education and human capital development, employment, income support programs, family support and health care—in terms of the following focal questions:

• What are the responsibilities of the State (nation-states and other units of government) in social welfare service financing and provision?  We address this question from both historical and international-comparative contexts.

• Who should be targeted for publicly-funded social welfare services, and what types of criteria or conditions should governments impose in determining who gets access to services?  How can need be effectively measured?

• Looking nationally and internationally, what recent social welfare policy innovations and legislative reforms have had important implications for program implementation and the impacts of social welfare programs (positive or negative)?

• What have we learned from evaluations of social programs about the costs and benefits of alternative types of policies or strategies?   How can social welfare programs be effectively implemented, particularly under hard budget constraints? 

• What are the appropriate roles for public, nonprofit and for-profit organizations in the administration and delivery of social welfare services?  How have public perspectives on this issue changed over time, particularly in light of recent public management reforms and initiatives, (e.g., requirements for performance measurement, contracting with private firms for service provision, etc.)?

Link to electronic course readings