Institutional competitiveness, social investment, and welfare regimes

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bernard, Paul; Boucher, Guillaume
• 署名单位: Universite de Montreal
• 刊物名称: REGULATION & GOVERNANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1748-5983
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-5991.2007.00016.x
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 213-229
• 关键词: employment; FAMILY; IMPACT

摘要

Are the rather generous welfare regimes found in most European countries sustainable; that is, are they competitive in a globalizing economy? Or will they, on the contrary, be crowded out by the more austere and less expensive regimes generally found in liberal Anglo-Saxon countries? We first discuss this issue conceptually, focusing on the notions of institutional competitiveness, social investment, and short-term and long-term productivity. We then briefly present the results of an empirical study of 50 social indicators of policies and outcomes in 20 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries during the early 2000s. We conclude that welfare regimes have not been forced to converge through a race to the bottom.'' There remain three distinct ways to face the trilemma'' of job growth, income inequality, and fiscal restraint: Nordic countries achieve high labor market participation through high social investment; Anglo-Saxon countries attain the same objective through minimal public intervention; while Continental European countries experience fiscal pressures because their social protection schemes are not promoting participation to the same extent.