The Welfare State in Europe

Résumé

The authors, European Commission advisors and administrators, as well as bank researchers and European economics scholars, analyze the main problems in the functioning of the welfare state and evaluate possible actions for its reform, taking the essential features of the welfare state as a given, based on wide public support all over the Union. Contributions consider the general problem of redistribution and how to make it more efficient by reducing huge benefits and tax disincentives that individuals encounter, as well as analyzing the economic effects of the welfare state; mechanisms for improving incentives; the implications of Economic and Monetary Union for the welfare state; options in pension funding; the impact of aging on the pensions system in the EU; and detailed projections of social expenditure.