Financing the welfare state system in Macao

Abstract

This study puts forward an explanatory account of welfare state development in a comparatively extremely neglected society (by academia) in the very midst of East Asia. The authors demonstrate the impact of the casino economy on the development of a more—in absolute terms, but not in relative terms—financially robust welfare state system in the former Portuguese colony. The government of Macao increased social welfare spending across the board. Apart from major increases in health care expenditure, and here, particularly in human resources investment, the government extended social expenditures in education and social services, especially social work services. The authors underline the importance for the Macao government to gain and sustain its political (non-democratic) legitimacy by increasing ‘social harmony' through increased social welfare expenditures across the board, on the one hand, and by controlling the finances of NGOs through massive, direct financial support from the government, on the other—in order for them to keep in line and continue to support (and not mobilize against) the government.