A Historical Institutional Perspective on Public Policy and Employment Insurance in Rural Newfoundland

Abstract

Why does Employment Insurance play such a dominant role in rural Newfoundland communities? This article gives readers a brief overview of the history of public policy making in rural Newfoundland and Labrador and how it has contributed to the dependence of E.I. It looks at the Smallwood Era of development, a history of the fishery with regards to E.I development, and a brief overview of the failed decentralized decision making model for rural Newfoundland and Labrador during the 1990s. Using Historical Institutionalism the article shows how the evolution of the institution of employment insurance and how it transformed to become an income supplement program instead of its original purpose of an employment insurance program.