The Danish welfare state as 'politics for markets': Combining equality and competitiveness in a global economy

New Political Economy

Volumn 12, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 71-78

  Andersen, Jørgen Goul ^a  

^a AALBORG UNIVERSITY   (Denmark)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

POLITICAL ECONOMY; STATE ROLE; WELFARE ECONOMICS;

DENMARK; EURASIA; EUROPE; NORTHERN EUROPE; SCANDINAVIA;

EID: 33947244532     PISSN: 13563467     EISSN: 14699923     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13563460601068693     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. OECD, Economic Outlook 2005 (OECD, 2005), Table A12
2. Jørgen Goul Andersen, 'Velfærdsstat og global konkurrence: Sætter globaliseringen den danske velfærdsmodel under pres?', Økonomi og Politik, Vol. 79, No. 1 (2006), pp. 20-41.
3. World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report 2005-2006 (WEF, 2005).
4. OECD, The OECD Jobs Study (OECD, 1994).
5. Torben Iversen & Anne Wren, 'Equality, Employment and Budgetary Restraint: The Trilemma of the Service Economy', World Politics, Vol. 50, No. 4 (1998), pp. 507-46.
6. Torben M. Andersen, 'International Integration and the Welfare State', in Torben M. Andersen & Per Molander (eds), Alternatives for Welfare Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 23-48.
7. Ramesh Mishra, Globalization and the Welfare State (Edward Elgar, 1999).
8. Jørgen Goul Andersen, 'Work and Citizenship: Unemployment and Unemployment Policies in Denmark, 1980-2000', in Jørgen Goul Andersen & Per H. Jensen (eds), Changing Labour Markets, Welfare Policies and Citizenship (Policy Press, 2002), pp. 59-84.
9. This may have changed after 2003 (statistics not yet available), but mainly for political reasons. In 2003-4, there was tax relief exclusively for the employed, social assistance for some groups (mainly immigrants and refugees) had been cut and, even though indexation of transfer incomes was in principle linked to wage increases, it was in practice lagging behind.
10. Jørgen Elmeskov & Maitland MacFarlan, 'Unemployment Persistence', OECD Economic Studies, No. 21 (1993), pp. 59-88.
11. Andersen, 'Work and Citizenship'.
12. Lars Andersen, 'Veje til flere i arbejde', in Jørn Henrik Petersen & Klaus Petersen (eds), 13 Løninger for den danske velfærdsstat (University Press of Southern Denmark, 2006), pp. 65-87.
13. Peder J. Pedersen & Nina Smith, 'Unemployment Traps: Do Financial Disincentives Matter?', European Sociological Review, Vol. 18, No. 3 (2002), pp. 271-88.
14. Tor Eriksson, Peter Jensen & Peder J. Pedersen, Arbejdsløhed og jobsøgning i Danmark, CLS Report 99-01, Centre for Labour Market and Social Research, University of Aarhus, 1999;
15. Pedersen & Smith, 'Unemployment Traps';
16. Nina Smith, Peder J. Pedersen, Søren Pedersen & Marie Louise Schultz-Nielsen, Fra mangel på arbejde til mangel på arbejdskraft. Arbejdsliv i Danmark i det nye årtusind (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit/Spektrum, 2003), pp. 102-12;
17. Jørgen Goul Andersen, Christian Albrekt Larsen & Jan Bendix Jensen, Marginalisering og velfærdspolitik (Frydenlund, 2003), pp. 162-70.
18. Margareta Bolinder, Handlingsutrymmets betydelse för arbetslösas upplevelser, handlingsstrategier och jobchanser, Akademiska avhandlingar vid Sociologiska institutionen, No. 42, University of Umeaa, 2006.
19. Jørgen Goul Andersen, Over-Danmark og Under-Danmark? (Aarhus University Press, 2003).
20. Hans Hansen, Elements of Social Security: A Comparison Covering Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada (The Danish National Institute of Social Research, 2001).
21. In terms of disposable income (in purchasing power parities), social assistance for families in Denmark is more generous than anywhere else. However, by 2002, an 'immigration package' introduced a substantially reduced version of social assistance (called 'start help') for immigrants during their first seven years of residence in the country. This is among the least generous social assistance schemes in Europe. Hans Hansen, Fra asylansøger over flygtning til familiesammenført, research note (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit, 2005). Besides, in order to avoid disincentives to work, a number of minor cuts have been made in social assistance; in practice, the large majority affected by these rules are refugees and immigrants.
22. For an overview, see Jørgen Goul Andersen & Jacob J. Pedersen, Continuity and Change in Danish Active Labour Market Policy: 1990-2006. The Battlefield Between Activation and Workfare, CCWS Working Paper, 2007. Otherwise, there has been no substantial cuts in benefits except for a tiny under-compensation in wage indexation of benefits.
23. Andersen, Over-Danmark og Under-Danmark?
24. OECD, Revenue Statistics 1965-2004 (OECD, 2005).
25. Fritz W. Scharpf, 'Economic Changes, Vulnerabilities, and Institutional Capabilities', in Fritz W. Scharpf & Vivian A. Schmidt (eds), Welfare and Work in the Open Economy (Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 125-8;
26. OECD, Taxing Wages, 2003-2004 (OECD, 2005).
27. Peder J. Pedersen, Marianne Røed & Lana Schröder, 'Emigration from the Scandinavian Welfare States', in Torben M. Andersen & Per Molander (eds), Alternatives for Welfare Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 76-104.
28. Velfærdskommissionen, Fremtidens velfærd og globaliseringen: Analyserapport (Velfærdskommissionen, 2005).
29. Willem Adema & Maxime Ladaique, Net Social Expenditure, 2005 Edition: More Comprehensive Measures of Social Support, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Papers No. 29 (OECD, 2005).
30. Andersen, 'Velfærdsstat og global konkurrence'.
31. Gøsta Esping-Andersen, 'After the Golden Age: Welfare State Dilemmas in a Global Economy', in Gøsta Esping-Andersen (ed.), Welfare States in Transition. National Adaptations in Global Economies (Sage, 1996), pp. 1-31.
32. In a welfare reform package adopted by a broad majority in the Danish Parliament in June 2006, it was agreed to introduce a life expectancy indexation of age limits in the retirement system. This means that, from 2018, the age limit will be increased to 62 years.
33. Per Kongshøj Madsen, 'The Danish Model of Flexicurity: A Paradise - with Some Snakes', in Hedva Sarfati & Giuliano Bonoli (eds), Labour Market and Social Protection Reforms in International Perspective (Ashgate, 2002), pp. 243-65.
34. OECD, Employment Outlook (OECD, 2005).
35. Christian Albrekt Larsen, The Three Worlds of Deservingness (Ashgate, 2006).
36. Jørgen Goul Andersen, Et ganske levende demokrati (Aarhus University Press, 2004), pp. 163-91. Jørgen Goul Andersen