Seminar Papers, Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University
No 717:
Improving the Performance of the European Social Model - The Welfare State over the Life Cycle
Assar Lindbeck ()
Abstract: The achievements of social-welfare arrangements in Western
Europe are well known: considerable income security, relatively little
poverty and, in some countries, ample supply of social services. But there
are also well-known weaknesses and hence considerable scope for
improvement. Three types of weaknesses are considered in this paper:
social-welfare arrangements are often not financially robust to shocks;
individuals make undesirable behavioural adjustments in response to
welfare-state arrangements and their financing; and social-welfare
arrangements are often poorly adapted to recent changes in socio-economic
conditions and preferences of individuals. I discuss these weaknesses, and
alternative methods to mitigate them, in the context of various types of
welfare-state arrangements that the individual may encounter over the life
cycle.
Keywords: social policies; welfare state; labour market; family structure; preferences; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: H00; H40; H50; (follow links to similar papers)
33 pages, February 6, 2003
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