An economic approach to the study of social care of elderly people: a perspective on informal care

<p>The approach to the study of social care of elderly people described in this chapter, the social production of welfare, is a developing framework based largely on concepts used in economics. The aim is to provide a theoretically rigorous approach to the analysis of the consumption of social care services as policies in the UK become more consumer oriented. The framework does not provide answers to important policy issues such as how best to address stress among carers. It does, however, provide a basis and a set of concepts for addressing these issues and generating hypotheses.

<p><p><p>In drawing on &#8216;household&#8217; or &#8216;the new home economics&#8217; and transaction costs literature the social production of welfare places care provided by the informal sector at the centre of the developing model. This chapter first outlines the new home economics and defines social care in this context clarifying the significance and characteristics of informal care networks. Transaction cost economics provides a basis for examining change and development of informal care networks. While economics provides a useful framework it is clearly necessary to draw on other literatures when addressing such issues as carer motivation and power structures which have a key influence on the productivity and stability of networks in producing informal care.<br><p><p>