The Swedish model in turbulent times: Decline or renaissance? (original) (raw)
Related papers
2011
We acknowledge the helpful comments of Birgitta Swedenborg, the other members of the Center for Business and Policy Studies/ National Bureau of Economic Research group, and conference participants-especially Nils Gottfries (our discussant) and Bertil Holmlund. We also thank Albin Kainelainen, Kjell Salvanes, Per Skedinger, and Roope Uusitalo for help with the data. We are responsible for the errors. Some of the work on this chapter was done while Fredriksson was at the Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University. 1. Even at its peak during the 1950s, union coverage in the United States never exceeded 35 percent. Private-sector unionism has been in steady decline since. Union coverage has increased only in the public sector, where roughly 36 percent of workers now belong to unions. Government intervention in labor markets has increased over time, mainly as a result of workplace regulations and the erosion of the employment at will doctrine that has historically characterized much of U.S. employment relations. Public employment as a fraction of total employment remains low by international standards.
Swedish Austerity: Benefits at Risk
International Journal of Health Services, 1993
The Swedish welfare state is facing the greatest threat since its inception. Attacks stem from the country's sharp economic downturn since 1989 and the related currency crisis of September 1992. Politicians of the right and left have responded to the economic crisis by initiating cutbacks in social welfare programs and supporting policies that will lead to a massive transfer of income from working people to corporations. The focus on cutting social programs is misplaced. The Swedish economy flourished for decades with the network of social service programs in place; the welfare state cannot be blamed for economic problems that have only recently arisen.
The Swedish Welfare State Model : A Brief Overview
Social Science Spectrum, 2016
The Swedish welfare state model has its roots in home turf as well as in the soil of othernations, mainly Germany and Britain. It took on its characteristic shape as the People’s Home in the 1930s, when national models to the left and right of the political spectrum in many countries were built around “the people”. At the time it was also labelled “the middle way” between capitalism and socialism. During the 1960s “record years” the Swedish welfare state grew rapidly. It stood at its zenith around 1970, hailed internationally as the Swedish model. However, the welfare state and the economy,closely intertwined, soon entered into a protracted structural crisis. In the early 1990s,Sweden experienced a deep and to a large extent home-made financial crisis and the Swedish model became a warning example in some quarters. Out of the crisis arose a revised model in which welfare services were still provided more or less “for free” (i.e.funded by tax money) while at the same time there were ...
IONUŢ-MARIAN ANGHEL Some scholars suggest that Romania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania (REBLLs), have implemented one of the toughest austerity programs in Europe since 2010 (e.g. Blyth, 2013). I will argue, alongside other scholars, that the recent economic crisis these countries experienced was not caused only by an unregulated banking system, but also by their economic growth model. My focus will be more on Romania's austerity program and its effects on various domains such as public and social spending, labor market policies, collective bargaining, education, and health. I will show that during the economic crisis, the neoliberal monetarist approach used by the IMF, known as the Polak model, used to redress the fiscal imbalances was blended with local policy decisions that overturn the relationship between labor and capital and placed the burden of economic recovery on the population. The article concludes that, while the problems were solved on the short run, the structural problems were not only left unaddressed, but many of them sharpened during and after the economic crisis.
Expansion and retrenchment of the Swedish welfare state: a long-term approach
International Journal of Health Services, vol. 45, núm. 2 , 2015
In this paper we will make a long-term analysis of the evolution of the Swedish welfare state. We will look for an explanation of that evolution using a systemic approach. That is to say, our approach will consider the interrelations between economic growth (EG), the socio-political institutional framework (IF) and the welfare state (WS) − understood as a set of institutions embracing the labour market and its regulation, the tax system and the so-called social wage − in order to find the main variables that explain its evolution. We will show that expansive phase of the Swedish welfare state can be explained by the symbiotic relationships developed in the interaction of WS-EG-IF; whereas the period of welfare state retrenchment is a result of the changes operated in the socio-political (IF) and economic (EG) bases on which it was based.
The Rise, Fall and Revival of the Swedish Welfare State: What are the Policy Lessons from Sweden?
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
This paper discusses a number of questions with regard to Sweden's economic and political development: • How did Sweden become rich? • What explains Sweden's high level of income equality? • What were the causes of Sweden's problems from 1970 to 1995? • How is it possible that Sweden, since the crisis of the early 1990s, is growing faster than most EU countries despite its high taxes and generous welfare state? These questions are analyzed using recent insights from institutional economics, as well as studies of inequality and economic growth. The main conclusion is that there is little, if any, Swedish exceptionalism: Sweden became rich because of well-functioning capitalist institutions, and inequality was low before the expansion of the welfare state. The recent favorable growth record of Sweden, including the period of financial stress (2008-2010), is a likely outcome of a number of far-reaching structural reforms implemented in the 1980s and 90s.