Istitutions for Social Well-Being: una discussione a piů voci

Author(s):  
Franco Bassanini ◽  
Guido Fabiani ◽  
Sebastiano Fadda ◽  
Elena Granaglia ◽  
Alberto Quadrio Curzio

- This article sets out the contributions to the roundtable held on presentation of the book Institutions for Social Well-Being edited by Lilia Costabile. The authors discuss the relevance of the role played by the Welfare State and the costs and effects of economic growth, and go on to analyse the balance between Institutions, Society and the Market. Also taken into consideration are the possible disincentives deriving from an extensive system of social guarantees, and the policies most likely to curtail its negative effects.EconLit Classification: D600, O430, E020Keywords: Welfare State, Growth, Institutions and GrowthParole chiave: Welfare state, Crescita, Istituzioni e crescita

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Catherine Audard

In Democracy in America (1840) , Tocqueville treats the passion for well-being as the consequence of equality. He does not forget to warn of the threats to democratic societies that could arise from the simple pursuit of “small and vulgar pleasures”, but he concludes that no government can be stable unless it satisfies this democratic passion for the “greatest well-being of all” (II, 4, 8). Tocqueville’s vision proved prophetic, and well-being did indeed become a matter of statecraft, with the welfare state emerging in the twentieth century as the indispensable mode of governance to regulate economic growth, protect the citizens and secure their standard of living against the ceaseless crises of capitalism and the vagaries of life. But this consensus on the nature and value of well-being and the economic growth that makes it possible is being increasingly challenged by the unprecedented crisis that we are experiencing, a crisis that simultaneously encompasses representative democracies, financial capitalism and the inequalities it engenders, welfare states and the threats to the environment posed by the race to consume and live well. In these circumstances, the colloquium presented in this introduction revisited the very notion of well-being and took stock of its different conflicting conceptions. Organized by The Tocqueville Society/La Société Tocqueville and The Center for Critical Democracy Studies at The American University of Paris, it was held by videoconference on 21 and 22 October 2020. All the papers in this dossier were presented at the colloquium.


2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler Cowen

Does the welfare state help the poor? This surprisingly simple question often generates more heat than light. By the welfare state, I mean transfer programs aimed at helping the poor through the direct redistribution of income. (This excludes general economic policy, antitrust, the volunteer military, and many other policies that affect the well-being of the poor.) Defenders of the welfare state often assume that the poor benefit from it, while critics suggest that the losses outweigh the gains. The most notable of such criticisms is Charles Murray's Losing Ground, which suggests that the welfare state has failed to achieve its stated ends.


2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 571-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Fic ◽  
Chetan Ghate

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 564-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Jongbloed ◽  
Ashley Pullman

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christer Sanne

The Swedish welfare state model is based on a high volume of male labour and steadily increasing labour market participation by women. General working time reductions to below the 40-hour norm did not previously enter into the trade unions' framework of goals, preference being given to individual working time reductions, for example in the form of parental leave. As a result of the employment crisis in the early 90s the prevalent conception of the welfare state based on economic growth was shattered, so that the idea of general working time reduction began to enjoy increased popularity in large sectors of the population, particularly among women.


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