The welfare state in transition

Description

Once heralded in the 1950s and 1960s as a model welfare state, Sweden is now in transition and in trouble since its economic plunge in the early 1990s. This volume presents ten essays that examine Sweden's economic problems from a U.S. perspective. Exploring such diverse topics as income equalization and efficiency, welfare and tax policy, wage determination and unemployment, and international competitiveness and growth, they consider how Sweden's welfare state succeeded in eliminating poverty and became a role model for other countries. They then reflect on Sweden's past economic problems, su.

Description

In the 1950s and 1960s Sweden won worldwide plaudits for its efforts to gain economic equality for its citizens by offering a more rational and humane form of capitalism than more market-driven economies. But by the 1990s something had gone drastically wrong - the economy had plunged, tarnishing Sweden's position as a role model for other countries. Once viewed as an attractive capitalist system, Sweden's economy is now in transition and in trouble. How serious are Sweden's economic troubles? Have critics exaggerated the nation's long-term economic problems or misinterpreted their causes? What reforms in the welfare state and its accompanying economic institutions might help restore Sweden's economic health? Ten American economists, working in tandem with Swedish economists, address these and other questions in this timely and forward-looking volume.

Subjects

Series Statement

• A National Bureau of Economic Research conference report

Other Editions

• The welfare state in transition: reforming the Swedish modelUniversity of Chicago Press1997-01-01
• Welfare State in TransitionUniversity of Chicago Press2008-01-01
• Welfare State in TransitionUniversity of Chicago Press2010-01-01