This work explores the political, social and economic forces that shape US policies affecting human services. Seeking to shed light on the tension between individual and social responsibility, it should appeal to economists, social scientists and policy-makers concerned with social policy issues.

Does government spend too little or too much on child care? How can education dollars be spent more efficiently? Should government's role in medical care increase or decrease? In this volume, social scientists, lawyers, and a physician explore the political, social, and economic forces that shape policies affecting human services. Four in-depth studies of human-service sectors - child care, education, medical care, and long-term care for the elderly - are followed by six cross-sector studies that stimulate new ways of thinking about human services through the application of economic theory, institutional analysis, and the history of social policy. This timely study sheds important light on the tension between individual and social responsibility, and will appeal to economists and other social scientists and policy-makers concerned with social policy issues.