Challenges To The Swedish Welfare State

Sweden has long been viewed as epitomizing a particular approach to economic and social policy. To its advocates, the Swedish welfare state builds on a strong social consensus favoring extensive state intervention to ensure a high quality of life for all Swedes. To its critics, the Swedish system is marked by excessive government intervention and attendant inefficiencies. These contrasting views are captured in imagery used by Prime Minister Göran Persson: "Think of a bumblebee. With its overly heavy body and little wings, supposedly it should not be able to fly--but it does." The Swedish welfare state is the bumblebee that has managed to fly. This book draws on many years of IMF surveillance and policy advice to explain how it has done so, to assess the challenges that the Swedish model faces in the new century, to propose a strategy for dealing with those challenges, and to draw lessons for the many other countries that face similar challenges from globalization and demographics.

Sweden's economy in the early 1990s has been characterized by a deep recession, high unemployment, a ballooning public sector budgete deficit, and a decline in the value of the currency- developments that have raised questions about the country's capacity to sustain its comprehensive welfare state. This study provides an analysis of recent economic developments in a longer-term context and assesses their implications for future policies.

Using an analytical framework based on Foucault's concept of governmentality and through unique case-studies, this volume explores the ongoing transformations taking place in the Swedish welfare state.

This volume presents a thought provoking analysis of key welfare state issues engaging policy makers across the globe. It provides a unique and comprehensive evaluation of the state of welfare states- developed and developing. It maps the diversity of welfare regimes across the world and brings to fore the particularities and nuances that characterise them. The book also focuses on the on-going reforms and makes a powerful case for the increased relevance of the welfare state in a globalizing era.

This book tackles a number of controversial questions regarding Swedenês economic and political development: «¾¾¾¾ How did Sweden become rich? «¾¾¾¾ How did Sweden become egalitarian? «¾¾¾¾ Why has Sweden since the early 1990s grown faster tha

This book deals with the quest for a divided welfare state in Sweden. The prime example is the rapid rise of private health insurance, which now constitutes a parallel system characterized by state subsidies for some and not for others. This functions as a kind of reverse means-testing, whereby primarily the upper classes get state support for new types of welfare consumption. Innovatively, Lapidus explains how such a parallel system requires not only direct and statutory state support but also indirect support, for example, from infrastructure built for the public health system. He goes on to examine how semi-private welfare funding is dependent on private provision and how the so-called 'hidden welfare state' gradually erodes the visible and former universal welfare state model, in direct contrast to its own stated goals. Who benefits from privatized welfare? How are the privatization of delivery and the privatization of funding linked? How does this impact public willingness to pay tax? All of these questions and more are discussed in this accessible volume.

Series titles from the publisher's website.

"Sweden is often pictured as a country with a strong welfare system and low levels of inequality. But it is also described as a country which has undergone fundamental restructurings of its welfare system since the 1990s, and where social inequality is now growing rapidly. This development is strikingly visible among people with a migration background. Inequalities and migration sets focus on ongoing developments and debates about the Swedish welfare system in relation to migration. It introduces the international reader to current developments of inequalities and migration in Sweden in broad historical and international perspectives. The book also offers in-depth insights into how the dynamics of growing inequality unfold in regard to a range of phenomena and areas of intervention, including the role of civil society. The selected case studies focus on inequalities and hierarchies in relation to both various forms of cross-border mobility and the increased diversification of Swedish society. The book fills a gap when it comes to English language course literature about contemporary debates regarding social policy and social work in relation to migration in Sweden. At the same time, it is well suited for a broader range of readers, including policy makers and practitioners outside of Sweden."