Read more
A common belief is that the European welfare states are in a position of crisis or heading towards one with the process of globalization removing any hopes of eventual worldwide welfare. This book challenges this assumption arguing that a proper understanding of the future role of the welfare state requires a broader social perspective that encompasses the interaction of economic, political and social processes. The Future of the Welfare State provides an interdisciplinary analysis of the practical and theoretical challenges which the welfare state (and progress towards world welfare) can and must meet in the future.
List of contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Contributors
Introduction: The Social, Political and Economic Future of the European
Welfare States
Bent Greve
Introduction
Globalisation and its Impact on Welfare States
The Ageing of Societies
Distributional Issues
Short Overview of the Chapters
Conclusion
Part 1 European Welfare Perspective
- A Tale of Two Pensions Reforms: A Sraffian View
- Is there a Demographic Time-bomb?
- A Market Imitating Employment Subsidy
- Pauperising Cities? Towards a Regional Framework for
EU Poverty Statistics
Part 2 Global Perspectives
- Welfare State and Uncertainty - Two Different Views
- Inequality and Unemployment: Reflections on Theory and on Europe
- International Finance for Development and the New Transnational
Dimension of Welfare in Poor Countries
- From Globalisation to World Welfare:
Established and Emerging Global Actors
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Bent Greve received a M.A. in Economics at Copenhagen University in 1977, a Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Roskilde in 1992, and a Dr. Scientific Administration in public administration in 2002. He is a Professor in Welfare State Analysis and is Head of the Department of Social Sciences and Director of the Jean Monnet European Center of Excellences both at the University of Roskilde, Denmark. He is an expert on the analysis of the welfare state and its development, mainly in a comparative European perspective. His research on the welfare state covers areas such as social security, the labour market, financing, and tax expenditures. He has been the Danish expert to several European Union Commission studies on financing and its implications, labor market policies, tele-working, and free movement of workers. He has done evaluation of welfare state policies and initiatives in core areas of the welfare state. He is also actively involved in and coordinates several programs on European Social Policy Analysis. Among other things, he is a deputy member of the board of the European Institute of Social Security and member and Vice Chair of the Danish Central Board of Taxation.
Summary
Challenging common beliefs that the European welfare states are already in or are heading towards crisis, this book calls for a proper understanding of the future role of the welfare state that requires a broader social perspective that encompasses the interaction of economic, political and social processes.
Report
'This book serves a particularly useful purpose by questioning the conventional views on the future of the welfare states, especially in Europe, and by introducing new perspectives gleaned from economics, political science and sociology.' Claude Gnos, University of Burgundy, France
