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Fred Hirsch's book, The Social Limits of Growth (1977) has proved erroneously fruitful in provoking and structuring debate about the relationship between economic development and individual satisfaction in advanced democracies. In this paper, we attempt to review the approach of the book, to explain why it is so influential and to test one aspect of the argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines data from an Australian survey of opinions about the welfare state which are pertinent to debates on public education and explores how citizen preferences may be viewed as egoistic or altruistic. Of those who sent their eldest child to a government school, 32% of respondents were very satisfied, 44% were fairly satisfied, and 10% were neutral. The survey also reveals that 62% of respondents feel that government schools need more well-qualified teachers, and 67% think that discipline was insufficient.