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  • Conference proceedings
  • © 1997

Reforming the Welfare State

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Table of contents (17 papers)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
  2. The Present Malaise

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. Moral Hazard in the Welfare State

      • Lars Söderström
      Pages 25-45
  3. The Welfare State at a Crossroad: Fundamental Choices

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 51-51
    2. Pros and Cons of a Negative Income Tax

      • Hans-Georg Petersen
      Pages 53-82
  4. Reform Issues of Specific Welfare Systems

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 119-119
    2. The Swedish Model: Past, Present, and Future

      • Anders Forslund
      Pages 121-162
    3. Reforming the Welfare State: The German Case

      • Norbert Berthold, Rainer Fehn
      Pages 165-202
  5. Reform Issues in Specific Areas of the Welfare State

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 231-231
    2. Unemployment Compensation: Theory and Practice

      • Michael C. Burda
      Pages 267-293

About this book

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.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Kiel Institute of World Economics, Kiel, Germany

    Herbert Giersch

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Reforming the Welfare State

  • Editors: Herbert Giersch

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60497-3

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1997

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-64431-3Published: 18 September 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-60497-3Published: 06 December 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 332

  • Topics: Economics, general

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access