Socialism in Malta : trends in the level of welfare and the distribution of income

Abstract

Whilst studying for a degree in Economics at the University of Malta, I became very interested in those areas of the subject which are interlinked with politics, especially the part of the latter dealing with different theories of Socialism. This, together with my interest in socialism as practiced in Malta, led to the present choice of field of research. Specifically, I wanted to satisfy my own personal curiosity as to how successful the practice of socialism has been in Malta in redistributing income. One may disagree with me here in the use of the word RE-distribution. However, my belief is that although the question as to HOW income is to be redistributed, may be a subject of controversy amongst socialists, there is no doubt, on the other hand, that they would all agree, that the implementation of such a policy in favour of the poorer members of society is a basic necessity of social reform. The only other point which Socialists may argue over is the order of priority of such a policy in a Nation's list of objectives. In this dissertation,· therefore, before going on to the analysis of the distribution of income itself, I have attempted in the first chapter to put the reader in the right perspective as to how important any policy is considered to be concerning the redistribution of income in Malta. In fact, it seems quite obvious that it is secondary to the growth of the economy. Following this, I attempted in the second and third chapters, to show the existent trends in the distribution of income. That is, in the second chapter I analyse government 'current' expenditure on the 'welfare state', while in the third chapter, I analyse trends in the 'Functional Distribution of Income'. The results in the former are very much as I expected, but the results of the latter are surprising and consequently worrying. They are worrying in that they INDICATE a trend in favour of capital owners, contrary to what I had expected to find under a socialist government. One will notice my use of the 'indicate'. I wish to make it quite clear that these results are INOICATIVE and NOT CONCLUSIVE. I have not been able to reach any definite conclusions because of the lack of data published, especially on the distribution of wealth. In the light of the indication emerging from this small contribution to research, therefore, my hope is that more detailed analyses will be undertaken which may help with the formulation and subsequent implementation of future income policies.