Bruce Headey – författare

Originally published in 1978, this book analyses three main approaches to national housing policy in the 20th Century in Sweden, the UK and USA. It reviews policy developments and considers the impact of policy on the housing conditions and costs of different sections of the community. A major theme is that British and American governments, contrary to their stated objectives, have actually increased housing inequality by allowing homeowners tax concessions which are more generous than the housing welfare programmes available to tenants. The political pressures which produced this outcome in Britain and the USA, but a quite different and more egalitarian outcome in Sweden, are carefully discussed. Throughout the book, policy making is regarded as involving trade-offs between what is politically feasible and what is operationally feasible. This framework enables readers to view policy making from the perspective of politicians and civil servants as they react to diverse demands and pressures and seek to devise housing programmes which embody incentives to which housing financiers builders and consumers will respond.

Originally published in 1978, this book analyses three main approaches to national housing policy in the 20th Century in Sweden, the UK and USA. It reviews policy developments and considers the impact of policy on the housing conditions and costs of different sections of the community. A major theme is that British and American governments, contrary to their stated objectives, have actually increased housing inequality by allowing homeowners tax concessions which are more generous than the housing welfare programmes available to tenants. The political pressures which produced this outcome in Britain and the USA, but a quite different and more egalitarian outcome in Sweden, are carefully discussed. Throughout the book, policy making is regarded as involving trade-offs between what is politically feasible and what is operationally feasible. This framework enables readers to view policy making from the perspective of politicians and civil servants as they react to diverse demands and pressures and seek to devise housing programmes which embody incentives to which housing financiers builders and consumers will respond.

Challenging the assertion that Western regimes are converging towards a ‘lean and mean’ Anglo-American type of welfare regime, the authors demonstrate how policy priorities and outcomes in these four regimes remain distinctive. Chapters offer detailed analyses of a comprehensive set of policy outcomes including poverty, income and wealth inequality, gender inequality, personal autonomy, economic growth, economic security, and life satisfaction. The book ultimately finds that the historically social democratic Scandinavian regimes perform as well or better than other regimes in all policy domains, whilst continuing to prioritise their own egalitarian policy aims.

This fascinating book will be essential reading for scholars of political science, sociology and economics, as well as policy makers seeking to fully understand the complex dimensions of Western capitalism. It will also be valuable to those interested in comparing the differing responses of Western governments to two major crises of the 21st century: the Global Financial Crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.

First published in 1974, British Cabinet Ministers is about the opportunities and constraints of executive political office. It is mainly based on interviews with fifty contemporary British Ministers and twenty-five senior civil servants. Hitherto political observers have referred simply to ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ Ministers, which begs the question ‘“strong” or “weak” at what?’ Here Ministers are classified into five types—policy initiators, policy selectors, Executive and Ambassador Ministers, and Minimalists—depending on their different approaches to their jobs.

The problems Ministers face in achieving their objectives are analysed and case studies are presented of the performance in office of different types of Ministers. In this context, we review the skills and abilities of politicians themselves and the range and quality of advice they can expect to receive in Whitehall. In the final section, the author considers the consequences for British government of the finding that Ministers are better qualified to perform some of their roles than others, and also indicates lines of inquiry that need to be further pursued by students of executive political leadership.