Reforming the Welfare State

✍ Scribed by Peter Baldwin (auth.), Prof. Herbert Giersch (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 329
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book is the sequel to Fighting Europe's Unemployment in the 1990s, the collection of papers presented at the Salzburg Symposium of the Egon-Sohmen-Foundation in 1994. Though the problem of un­ employment was urgent already then, it has not found a practical solution in the meantime, and even intellectually it remains somewhat of a mystery. A clue is offered by the contrast with the United States: they have the working poor; we, on the old continent, have the welfare recipients. This brings the relationship between unemployment and the welfare state to the fore. On closer inspection, however, the matter appears to be much more complicated than the transatlantic contrast suggests. Consider only that the welfare state and what is called "social policy" have a long tradition in Europe. They obviously did not pre­ vent or noticeably hamper the decline in unemployment in the 1950s and the emergence of full employment in the 1960s. This leaves room for various conjectures. Does the welfare state matter only after a long time lag or after it has grown too fast or too much beyond a critical size? Is it the welfare state per se that is harmful to employment or do its harmful effects arise only under certain conditions, e. g.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-x
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
The Past Rise of Social Security: Historical Trends and Patterns....Pages 3-24
Moral Hazard in the Welfare State....Pages 25-45
Comment on Lars Söderström “Moral Hazard in the Welfare State”....Pages 47-50
Front Matter....Pages 51-51
Pros and Cons of a Negative Income Tax....Pages 53-82
Comment on Hans-Georg Petersen “Pros and Cons of a Negative Income Tax”....Pages 83-90
The Future Scope for Self-Reliance and Private Insurance....Pages 91-108
Comment on Alan Peacock “The Future Scope for Self-Reliance and Private Insurance”....Pages 109-118
Front Matter....Pages 119-119
The Swedish Model: Past, Present, and Future....Pages 121-162
Reforming the Welfare State: The German Case....Pages 165-202
Comment on Norbert Berthold and Rainer Fehn “Reforming the Welfare State: The German Case”....Pages 205-206
The Worm at the Root: An Exploration of the British Welfare Case....Pages 207-230
Front Matter....Pages 231-231
Old-Age Pension Systems: A Theoretical Evaluation....Pages 233-246
International Reforms of Health Care Systems: Quasi Markets, Privatization, and Managed Care....Pages 247-259
Comment on Richard Scheffler “International Reforms of Health Care Systems: Quasi Markets, Privatization, and Managed Care”....Pages 261-266
Unemployment Compensation: Theory and Practice....Pages 267-293
From Welfare State to Social State: Individual Responsibility and Compassion....Pages 295-309
Front Matter....Pages 311-311
On the Transfer Value of Gratitude....Pages 313-326
Back Matter....Pages 327-331

✦ Subjects

Economics general