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Benefit Dependency and the Dynamics of the Welfare State: Comparing Sweden and the Netherlands
Author(s) -
Einerhand Marcel,
Eriksson Ingemar,
Van Leuvensteijn Michiel
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
international social security review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.349
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1468-246X
pISSN - 0020-871X
DOI - 10.1111/1468-246x.00082
Subject(s) - dependency (uml) , welfare dependency , welfare , welfare state , welfare system , economics , dynamics (music) , public economics , state (computer science) , dependency ratio , demographic economics , econometrics , sociology , political science , demography , computer science , market economy , pedagogy , population , software engineering , algorithm , politics , law
In this article we analyse the dynamics of the welfare state, focusing on the Netherlands and Sweden. The basic question is whether the different social systems of these countries result in differences in persistency of benefit dependency. We conclude that although benefit dependency at a macroeconomic level is more or less the same, patterns of mobility of individuals between benefits and jobs are different. These different patterns are partly explained by overrepresentation of benefits with a high degree of persistency in the Netherlands. This overrepresentation is, however, not sufficient to account for the large differences observed in dynamics. Characteristics of the welfare state account for that.