The four puzzles just distilled from a survey of poor relief before 1880 deserve answers. Why did England have a dramatic early rise of poor relief? Why was poor relief a rural and regional outcome in England, when it was heavily urban in the rest of the world? Why did poor relief stagnate as a share of national income in many countries between 1820 and 1880? Why did it fall to central governments to limit relief, when theory suggests that central governments might be more efficient than local governments in providing it?

A few key factors help to resolve all four puzzles. The comparative history of poor relief becomes somewhat less mysterious if we follow the roles of electoral democracy, decentralization in government, and changes in economic self-interest. The same forces that push back the veil of mystery about early poor relief, it will turn out, will also help to explain some puzzles about the rise of public schooling in Chapter 5.

THE RISE AND FALL OF ENGLAND'S OLD POOR LAW, 1780–1834

The first puzzle to be addressed in the pre-1880 experience is the peculiarity of English poor relief movements. Why did England lead so early in poor relief in the eighteenth century? Why did it then cut relief, yet remain one of the top-spending nations? Did the same powerful interests change their minds on this issue, or was it the arrival of new interest groups that led to the relief-slashing Poor Law Reform of 1834?