Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/81242 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2003
Series/Report no.: 
IUI Working Paper No. 587
Publisher: 
The Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IUI), Stockholm
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.
Subjects: 
Social Policies
Welfare State
Labour Market
Family Structure
Preferences
JEL: 
H00
H40
H50
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
248.88 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.