What is social welfare? When economy and prosperity go together

The Royal Spanish Academy defines social well-being as the set of elements necessary to live a comfortable, full and peaceful life. If social needs are also added to this then it can be determined that social welfare It is achieved as a positive sum of some measurable variables that come together to improve people’s lives.

Therefore, two types of factors should be taken into account to define social welfare. First, those of a personal nature that refer directly to topics such as Health, physical or mental, or happiness. On the other hand, it is also determined by other global socio-economic elements. For example, gross domestic product, corruption, freedom, equality or lack of social opportunities.

Impact of economy on social welfare

It was in the 1960s when social welfare as a socio-economic concept began to be studied. Two main currents emerged at that time: happy, which analyzes well-being from a subjective perspective, and eudemonic, Which focuses on the psychological well-being of humans.

Although economic factors are fundamental when referring to social welfare, Russian economists simon kuznets Nobel Prize in Economics and Creator of the concept of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), It recognizes that this index cannot be used unambiguously to evaluate levels of social welfare. According to these experts, GDP does not differentiate between charitable and harmful economic activities, which has a direct impact on citizen satisfaction.

Besides, diane sile, A politics professor at the University of Cambridge explains that during World War II, Keynes said: “I don’t need to know how much welfare there is, because we’re at war and it’s not good for welfare. There is a need to know how much the economy can produce and what is the minimum that people need to consume. All this is to know how much is left to finance the war.”

It should also be kept in mind that social welfare and welfare state They are not the same. The latter is European in origin, character and identity and cannot be understood without knowing the history of the continent. Although they are related, many experts suggest that Europe should consider leaving behind the welfare state model that emerged in the post-war period. These defend that we should move toward other policies that focus more promote economic development, Without neglecting the well-being of the population.