One in four children -- Promoting work and making work pay -- Increasing financial support for families with children -- Investing in children in the early years -- Investing in school-age children -- Ten years later -- The next steps for Britain -- Lessons for the United States and other countries

This book is an examination of early modern English almshouses in the 'mixed economy' of welfare. Drawing on archival evidence from three contrasting counties - Durham, Warwickshire and Kent - between 1550 and 1725, the book assesses the contribution almshouses made within the developing welfare...