Publisher's Synopsis
The population of the developed world is growing proportionately older and more frail; at the same time, governments in all these countries are very concerned about containing public expenditure. Many countries are pursuing policies designed to encourage people in need to use private and informal sources of help as well as the more traditional public forms of social and health care. - - One of the ways in which they are trying to encourage this 'mixed economy of welfare' is by using tax, social security benefits and direct payments to both carers and care recipients in order to maintain a supply of caring labour, as well as to provide the necessary financial underpinnings to private and voluntary sectors of care provision. This book brings together for the first time a collection of papers that look at how these schemes are developing across Europe (including Central Europe) and in the United States and Canada. The schemes discussed include payments to 'volunteers,' as well as consideration of the way in which social security and tax systems work to increase the incomes of care recipients and their carers. In three introductory chapters, the editors discuss the general and theoretical issues involved in the development of systems of payment for care, looking particularly at labour market and empowerment issues, as well as questions of how the introduction of payments may or may not alter the relationship between carers and care recipients. - - The book will be of interest to researchers and students of social policy, particularly those with interest in gerontology, personal social services, social security, informal care and women?s studies.
