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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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When past reforms open new opportunities
— comparing old-age insurance reforms in Bismarckian welfare systems | | Author(s) | Giuliano Bonoli, Bruno Palier |
| Journal title | Social Policy & Administration, vol 41, no 6, December 2007 |
| Pages | pp 555-573 |
| Keywords | Social welfare ; Social policy ; Italy ; Germany ; Austria. |
| Annotation | France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Spain have all gone through several waves of pensions reforms both in the 1990s and in the early 2000s. Comparing the politics of these reforms shows some similar trends: reforms were usually postponed until European integration and/or economic recession forced government to act. Before the first wave of reforms, the main forms of 'action' had been to increase payroll taxes to finance pensions. In the 1990s, reforms were usually negotiated on the basis of a quid pro quo: benefits were intended progressively to decrease in exchange for non-contributory pensions being financed from general tax revenue instead of through the insurance schemes. The second wave of reforms (through the 2000s) seems to have brought more innovation, with new goals such as the development of voluntary private pension funds and the need to increase employment rates among older people and to stop early retirement. This article aims, first, to trace the political processes leading to these reforms; second, to reveal the commonalities in these processes between the various cases; and third, to highlight the differences between the first and the second waves of pension reform. The role of 'sequencing' is emphasised, demonstrating how each pension reform facilitates the adoption of the next one. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-071107212 A |
| Classmark | TY: TM2: 76V: 767: 76A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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