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Population Ageing - A Threat to the Welfare State? pp 109–119Cite as

Towards a New Swedish Model?

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Part of the book series: Demographic Research Monographs ((DEMOGRAPHIC))

Abstract

The Swedish welfare state has always attracted interest among welfare state scholars, and it has been labelled universal, social democratic and institutional – among other things. Since 1980, however, the Swedish welfare state has been altered and reformed in several ways. Taking a very strict view on what the Swedish model entails, the model is arguably dead. Still, most welfare state scholars agree that despite some cutbacks, Sweden remains a universal welfare state, and the reforms have been described as liberalization without welfare state retrenchment. Most likely, public commissions have served as early warning systems, providing valuable information to decision makers and facilitated the creation of political consensus. The pension reform is the paramount example, but it remains to be seen whether similar reforms will be implemented for healthcare and elderly care.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These risks include the risk of living longer than expected without having sufficient savings, which is the risk handled by a pension system.

  2. 2.

    Immigration is not a sufficient solution. As Bengtsson and Scott show, many arguments regarding immigration are true – but the magnitudes are such that immigration can never substantially change the demographic structure.

  3. 3.

    Recently, public policy documents show that policy makers are indeed discussing the strategic choice described here (see the Swedish Långtidsutredningen 2003/04, SOU 2004, p. 19).

  4. 4.

    For example, see Marier (2005) on the important role played by bureaucrats in the Swedish pensions reform.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks the Torsten and Ragnar Söderbergs foundations for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Scheelevägen 15B, 223 63, Lund, Sweden

    Andreas Bergh

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  1. Andreas Bergh
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Correspondence to Andreas Bergh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Economic History, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden

    Tommy Bengtsson

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Bergh, A. (2010). Towards a New Swedish Model?. In: Bengtsson, T. (eds) Population Ageing - A Threat to the Welfare State?. Demographic Research Monographs. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12612-3_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12612-3_7

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