1st Edition

The Future of the Welfare State European and Global Perspectives

Edited By Bent Greve Copyright 2006

    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.

    Introduction The Social, Political and Economic Future of the European Welfare States, Bent Greve; Part 1 European Welfare Perspective; Chapter 1 1This Chapter is heavily based on Chapter 9 of Cesaratto (forthcoming a)., Sergio Cesaratto; Chapter 2 Is there a Demographic Time-bomb?, Bent Greve; Chapter 3 A Market Imitating Employment Subsidy, Ralph S. Musgrave; Chapter 4 1The author gratefully acknowledges the Austrian Academy of Sciences for a DOC-grant and EPUNET for providing data access during a short research visit to the ESRI in Dublin., Matthias Till; Part 2 Global Perspectives; Chapter 5 1The translation has been made by http://stud.scient.adm. Ben Hope., Jesper Jespersen; Chapter 6 Inequality and Unemployment: Reflections on Theory and on Europe, James K. Galbraith; Chapter 7 International Finance for Development and the New Transnational Dimension of Welfare in Poor Countries, Marco Zupi; Chapter 8 From Globalisation to World Welfare: Established and Emerging Global Actors, Andrea Gallina;

    Biography

    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.

    '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