Is the Welfare State sustainable? How has it fared in the last few decades? What are the main challenges facing the Welfare State today and in the near future? This Working paper aims at offering the reader with elements to answer, if temporarily,...
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ZBW - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Standort Kiel
Signature:
DS 657
Inter-library loan:
No inter-library loan
Is the Welfare State sustainable? How has it fared in the last few decades? What are the main challenges facing the Welfare State today and in the near future? This Working paper aims at offering the reader with elements to answer, if temporarily, this questions regarding the present and future of the European Welfare State. With that aim, the paper discusses the evolution on European Welfare States, making emphasis in the contrast between the discourse that has become a common place regarding Welfare State dynamics and its crisis, and the picture shown by the indicators commonly used to measure the size of the Welfare State. Against this background, we review the “old” and “new” challenges faced by Welfare States. This review includes its compatibility with allocative efficiency and economic growth, the impact of globalisation and immigration, the increase in demographic dependency rates related to the growth of life expectancy and the reduction of fertility rates, the change in household patterns, or the growing concern about gender inequality. The last part of the paper deals with the different social and economic policy options available to the Welfare State to meet its goals in a context of economic and social change driven by the digital revolution.
Publisher:
Levy Economics Institute, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
This paper is a comparison between two programs implemented to combat poverty in Latin America: Prospera (Prosper) in Mexico and Asignación Universal por Hijo (Universal Assignment for Child) in Argentina. The first section offers a review of the...
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ZBW - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Standort Kiel
Signature:
DS 88
Inter-library loan:
No inter-library loan
This paper is a comparison between two programs implemented to combat poverty in Latin America: Prospera (Prosper) in Mexico and Asignación Universal por Hijo (Universal Assignment for Child) in Argentina. The first section offers a review of the emergence of the welfare state, examining economic and urban development in both countries and the underlying trends of social policy instruments. The analysis is based on the political nature of social problems and the actions undertaken to confront them. The paper offers a theoretical perspective, often questioning the very foundation of the social policy that serves as the main framework for the social programs, in order to present the policies' scope, successes, and disadvantages with reference to social equity and the wellbeing of their participants.
