Velfærdsøkonomi

I 2011 skrev Ove K. Pedersen Konkurrencestaten, hvori han beskrev, hvordan betingelserne for velfærden har forandret sig. Fra at løfte arbejderklassens levestandard skal velfærdsstaten nu i højere grad optimere alle borgere, så Danmark kan begå sig i den internationale konkurrence. Siden er konkurrencestaten blevet samlebetegnelse for nedskæringer, effektiviseringer og stressede borgere som fodsoldater i vækstens tjeneste, mens Ove K. Pedersens bog er blevet heftigt diskuteret.Nu svarer Ove K. Pedersen igen.I Reaktionens tid – konkurrencestaten mellem reform og reaktion forklarer han, hvorfor konkurrencestaten er en videreudvikling af og ikke en modsætning til velfærdsstaten. Han redegør både for konkurrencestatens opståen og for den værdi- og idékrise, som den har ført med sig. Løser vi ikke den krise, kan vi tabe trygheden og velstanden på gulvet, siger han.Anmeldelser"Bogen er stærk.. Ove Kaj Pedersen skriver sine essays med et imponerende vingefang og stor indsigt." – Weekendavisen"Overkaj strikes back" ★★★★★ – Berlingske"Ove K. Pedersens nye bog om konkurrencestaten er samfundsanalyse, når det er bedst" – ★★★★★ – Altinget★★★★★ – GymnasieskolenBogen er en lærd, lærerig, engageret og normativt motiveret historieskrivning om den danske samfundsmodels rødder og aktuelle legitimitetskrise - tilsat et forsøg på at vise en vej ud af krisen. " – Djøfbladet"Det er en meget oplysende bog, Ove K. Pedersen har skrevet med Reaktionens tid." – InformationOve K. Pedersen (f. 1948) er uddannet i statskundskab, professor emeritus i komparativ politisk økonomi og har publiceret en lang række bøger på dansk og engelsk, bl.a. den indflydelsesrige Konkurrencestaten (2011) og Markedsstaten (2014), men også The National Origins of Policy Ideas (2014), ligesom han er bidragsyder til Konkurrencestaten og dens kritikere (2017).

Velfærdsstaten var revolutionerende: Den løftede tusinder ud af fattigdom, gav anstændige hjem, god uddannelse og sikkerhed. Men i dag er den blevet til et omfattende og dyrt system til administrering af behov og risici. Velfærdsstaten er et industrielt system og dens institutioner og serviceydelser afspejler den æra, den blev udformet i. I dag står vi over for nye udfordringer. Global opvarmning, massemigration, demografiske forandringer, kroniske sygdomsepidemier, bekymringer for sikkerheden og voksende ulighed er problemer, som hører vor tid til, og de eksisterende systemer kan ikke håndtere og da slet ikke løse dem. Vores ressourcer er ændret. Denne bog handler om at gennemføre en radikal overgang, der opgiver det 20. århundredes besættelse af styring og administration og af at lappe folk sammen igen, når det er gået galt. I stedet skal fokus rettes mod at støtte den enkelte, familierne og lokalsamfundene i at udvikle deres egne kapabiliteter: lære, arbejde, leve sundt og tage kontakt med hinanden. Moderne velfærd er til for at kultivere sådanne kapabilitet, frem for at administrere menneskelig afhængighed. Bogen giver konkrete bud på, hvordan vi kan genforstå og re-designe velfærdsstaten til dette århundrede, ved at beskrive fem 'eksperimenter', der viser os et nyt design af familieliv, opvækst, arbejdsliv, sundhed og alderdom. Kernen i denne måde at arbejde på er menneskelige forbindelser. Radikal hjælp beskriver principperne bag tilgangen, designprocessen, som gør arbejdet muligt og udfordringerne ved overgangen. Det drejer sig om konkrete nye måder at organisere os på, der allerede har udviklet sig over hele Storbritannien. Radikal hjælp skaber en ny vision og en radikalt anderledes tilgang, der igen kan tage vare på os fra vugge til grav.

I velfærdssamfundet er det afgørende for såvel den enkeltes som det fælles bedste, at det offentlige kan intervenere i borgernes hverdagsliv og vores almene livsbetingelser. Men hvordan blander staten sig bedst på f.eks. børneområdet? Den grundlæggende præmis i denne bog er, at en intervention først bliver social, når de mennesker, der berøres af indgrebet, også bliver inddraget i processen. Bogens pointe er, at interventioner virker. Men kun hvis de er meningsfulde for de mennesker, som interventionerne omfatter. Hermed udvider bogens forfattere den videnskabelige forståelse af sammenhængen mellem de væsentligste aspekter i social intervention: velfærdsstat, viden og deltagelse. Forfatterne viser, hvordan interventioner kan designes, gennemføres, dokumenteres og efterbehandles på måder, der aktivt involverer de berørte parter. Bogen tegner hermed et socialt interventionskompas, som hjælper alle involverede parter i interventionsprocesser – professionelle, borgere og pårørende – til at skabe samfundsmæssige interventioner, som er meningsfulde for alle parter. Her er dels aktiviteter, der griber forandrende ind på et samfundsmæssigt og strukturelt plan ved hjælp af reguleringsindsatser eller top-down-interventioner, og dels socialt, psykologisk og pædagogisk orienterede interventioner, der ofte er rettet mod marginaliserede eller udsatte mennesker. Bogens kapitler rummer med deres empiriske eksempler flere forskellige versioner og forståelser af social intervention, og de dykker bl.a. ned i emner som tidlig indsats og Barnets Reform. Jo Krøjer er lektor og leder af Sociale Interventionsstudier på RUC. Katia Dupret er lektor i socialpsykologi på RUC.

"Den globaløkonomiske udvikling har klare mindelser om Titanics jomfrurejse i foråret 1913. Hvordan kunne Titanic forlise, når den var konstrueret til at være synkefri? Uanset at hvert enkelt tandhjul var velfungerende, og hver enkelt møtrik var fastspændt, så løb Titanic alligevel på det fatale isbjerg. Ganske uafhængigt af hvor mange ingeniører, der havde været involveret i at perfektionere maskineriet og optimere betjeningen på 1. klasse, så kunne det ikke forhindre sammenstødet. Hvis kursen er udstukket forkert, så viste det sig omsonst at vedblive med at flytte om på dækstolene for at få den bedste plads i solen."Læs her en række iagttagelser fra 30 år med samfundsøkonomi, skrevet af professor emeritus ved Roskilde Universitet, Jesper Jespersen. Teksterne kan læses af såvel fagfolk som lægfolk med interesse for samfund, politik og økonomi. Bogen munder ud i det måske allermest presserende spørgsmål; giver det mening at tænke i en vækstbaseret samfundsøkonomi, med så presset en klode vi lever på?

Bekæmpelse af social ulighed og utryghed var en central begrundelse for opbygningen af den danske velfærdsstat. Alligevel er det endt med stigende ulighed. Og alt imens har vi mistet evnen og begreberne til at sætte social ulighed i centrum for vores politik. Det går ikke bare ud over samfundets svageste. Det truer sammenhængskraften i Danmark. Sådan lyder diagnosen fra Erik Jørgen Hansen. Han påviser, at Danmark stadig er et klassesamfund, tager et opgør med troen på social mobilitet og stiller en række kontroversielle forslag til bekæmpelse af social ulighed. Erik Jørgen Hansen (f. 1935) er cand.polit. og tidligere forskningsleder i SFI – Det Nationale Forskningscenter for Velfærd samt forskningsprofessor ved DPU. Han er forfatter til bl.a. Den maskerede klassekamp (1990) og Konflikter og uligheder i det moderne samfund (2002) samt erindringsbogen Mit 1900-tal (2006).

Idéen om konkurrencestaten har præget den offentlige debat i flere år. Diskussionerne om folkeskolen, de videregående uddannelser, arbejdsmarkedsreformer, organisering og ledelse af den offentlige sektor har alle været præget af spørgsmålet om hvilken type velfærdsstat, vi ønsker os, og hvordan vi kan ruste Danmark til udfordringer globalt og europæisk, nationalt og internationalt.Begrebet konkurrencestat har delt vandene mellem de, som er fortalere for opretholdelse af efterkrigstidens velfærdstat og de, som mener, at denne kan og skal reformeres, især i lyset af de erfaringer, vi har fra velfærdsstatens gloriøse periode fra 1950’erne til 1970’erne og de forandringer, der fra begyndelsen af 1990’erne begyndte at præge hele verden. Konkurrencestaten og dens kritikere giver læseren et udtømmende indblik i den videnskabelige og politiske diskussion af ’konkurrencestaten’. Søren Kaj Andersen har samlet en enestående række af kritiske bidrag fra prominente politikere, meningsdannere og forskere. Afslutningsvis rummer bogen et grundigt svar og en diskussion af begrebets status fra Ove K. Pedersen, hvis analyse af udviklingen i dansk politik ligger til grund for debatten. Således fungerer bogen både som en indføring i og en videreudvikling af diskussionen om konkurrencestaten.Omtale"Der er ikke nogen facitliste hverken til samtidsanalysen eller til ”det gode samfund”. Og netop derfor er bogen om Konkurrencestaten og dens kritikere meget spændende og udfordrende at fordybe sig i. Alle bidrag er skrevet med betydelig indsigt og engagement. Bogen kræver tid, tanker og refleksion. Til gengæld får man en bedre forståelse af udviklingen – eller i hvert fald en erkendelse af, at politik, samfund og menneskesyn er under udvikling og særdeles komplekse størrelser, som vi ikke begriber fuldt ud – og slet ikke i samtiden."6/6 stjerner- anmeldt af Jesper Hjort, Nyhedsmagasinet Danske Kommuner nr. 03/2018”Anders Bondo Christensen er den mest uforsonlige kritiker af konkurrencestatens ”opportunistiske person”, som – ifølge efterordet – er Ove Kaj Pedersens forsøg på at begrebsliggøre det nye menneskesyn, der bredte sig fra 1980’erne.”4/6 stjerner- anmeldelse ved Mikael Busch, Jyllands-Posten, 7. januar 2018IndholdSøren Kaj Andersen: IndledningDEN ANALYTISKE FORANKRING1 Sverre Raffnsøe: Fra forskning som facit og forudsigelse til forskning som udforskning og udfordring. En analyse af Konkurrencestatens og Markedsstatens forsider som vej til en forståelse af Ove K. Pedersens værk2 Kerstin Jacobsson: Konkurrencestat og neoliberalisering. En sociologs perspektiv på Ove K. Pedersens analyserVALG AF KONKURRENCESTAT3 Martin Møller Boje Rasmussen: Hvilken type konkurrencestat vælger du? Og hvilken vælger Danmark?4 Dan Jørgensen og Johannes Lundsfryd: Velfærd er nødvendig for konkurrencestaten5 Marianne Jelved: Konkurrencestat eller ej – samarbejde og fællesskaber skal der til6 Lizette Risgaard: I Danmark vinder vi sammen7 Uffe Elbæk: Balancesamfundet – et mere håbefuldt alternativ8 Per Bregengaard og Margit Kjeldgaard: Ud med konkurrencestaten – ind med samarbejde. Den blå konkurrencestat skal ikke erstattes med en demokratisk sindet, rød-grøn konkurrencestat, men af skridt mod socialismenDANNELSESIDEAL OG UDDANNELSE9 Lars Qvortrup: ”Konkurrencestaten” og folkeskolen10 Anders Bondo Christensen: Konkurrencestatens reaktionære skolesyn11 Stefan Hermann: Konkurrencestatens pædagogiske spørgsmål – og dens mange svarSTYRINGEN AF DEN OFFENTLIGE SEKTOR12 Kurt Klaudi Klausen: Hvad betyder konkurrencestaten for ledere og medarbejdere i den offentlige sektor?13 Eva Secher Mathiassen: Konkurrencestaten. Det går stærkt – men går det godt14 Bente Sorgenfrey: Danmark har brug for en forvaltningsreform NU!ARBEJDSMARKEDET OG KONKURRENCESTATEN15 Christian Lyhne Ibsen: Konkurrencestaten og den danske aftalemodel16 Karsten Dybvad: Den danske arbejdsmarkedsmodel i en globaliseret verden17 Per Christensen: Vi må insistere på demokratisk debatBORGEREN, HVERDAGEN OG DEMOKRATIET18 Lars Torpe: Medborgeridentiteten er presset19 Mikkel Thorup: De uvalgtes styre – konkurrencestaten og det begrænsede demokrati20 Maja Hojer Bruun, Mikkel Rytter og Stine Krøijer: Selvstændighedssamfundet – antropologiske perspektiver på velfærdsstatens kontinuitet og forandringHISTORIEN OG KONKURRENCESTATEN21 Jeppe Nevers og Per Boje: Stat og marked – et historisk perspektiv22 Thomas Højrup: Politisk kultur, livsformer og statsformer under forandringEfterord. Ove K. Pedersen: Fra kritik til selvkritik – og tilbage igen

Henrik Christoffersen er tidligere forskningschef i den liberale tænketank CEPOS og mangeårig iagttager og kritiker af det danske velfærdssamfund. I sin nyeste bog går han i rette med de faste forestillinger om lighedens velsignelser og statens monopol på velfærd.Lighed har været velfærdsstatens sande dna siden velfærdsstatens dannelse. Frem til 1980’erne blev den økonomiske ulighed mellem danskerne da også stadig mindre. Herefter, og altså i mere end fire årtier, er uligheden imidlertid øget år for år. Bogen eftersøger, hvad der ligger bag. Det var ikke realistisk fortsat at øge skattetrykket efter begyndelsen af 1980’erne, og der opstod nye prioriteringer i dansk politik. Stort set alle økonomiske reformer i de senere år har i sig selv øget den økonomiske ulighed. Det er en udvikling, som sætter spørgsmålstegn ved, om ligheden overhovedet har været en grundlæggende værdi for danskerne, eller om udviklingen blot har været drevet af trangen til økonomisk vinding for det bestemmende flertal.

This revised and expanded book focuses on Hilferding's major work, Finance Capital. In revisiting this influential book from a methodological point of view, both historical and intellectual, the authors affirm Hilferding's place in the Marxist tradition. Hilferding's ideas are used to criticise incumbent approaches in economics and enrich existing discussions and debates about the nature of modern capitalism. In doing so, this book highlights the importance of Hilferding's work in analysing and understanding modern capitalism and corporate developments. New material looking at Hilferding¿s economic journalism, debates around his work in Poland, and Eugene Vargäs perspective on his work is also included.The book aims to explore Hilferding¿s central ideas on the political economy, as well as its historical context and relation to Marx. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in the political economy, the history of economic thought, and European politics.

This book is Volume II of a two-volume set on antitrust policy, analyzing the economic efficiency and moral desirability of various kinds of antitrust-policy-coverable conduct and various possible government responses to such conduct, including US and EU antitrust law. The overall study consists of three parts. Part I (Chapters 1-8) introduces readers to the economic, moral, and legal concepts that play important roles in antitrust-policy analysis. Part II (Chapters 9-16) analyzes the impacts of eight types of conduct covered by antitrust policy and various possible government responses to such conduct in terms of their economic efficiency, their impact on liberal moral rights, and their instantiation of various utilitarian and other egalitarian conceptions of the moral good. Part III (Chapters 17-18) provides detailed information on US antitrust law and EU competition law and compares the extent to which¿when correctly interpreted and applied¿these two bodies of law could increase economic efficiency, protect liberal moral rights, and instantiate various morally defensible conceptions of the moral good. This second volume contains the last 6 chapters of Part II, which focus respectively on horizontal (M&A)s, conglomerate (M&A)s, surrogates for vertical integration, vertical (M&A)s, joint ventures, and internal growth and Part III, which focuses on US antitrust law and EU competition law. The book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students of economics and law who are interested in welfare economics, antitrust policy, and The General Theory of Second Best.

This introductory textbook on social choice theory makes the social choice theoretic framework and its main results, that have a direct bearing on the discourses on electoral rules and policy evaluation, accessible to a larger audience. The text is essentially self-contained. No previous knowledge of mathematical logic or relational algebra is assumed. Whatever technical prerequisites are needed, are developed in the text itself. Although the text is at an introductory level, there has been no compromise on rigor. Unlike most introductory books, the relevant proofs are not omitted; rather, they have been explained in detail. The text has a large number of examples so that the concepts and results become clear to the reader. There is a large number of exercises with full solutions provided at the end of the text, so that the reader can check her/his understanding of the material.

This book conducts a comparative analysis of social and economic changes in the welfare state transformations in China and India, at national and sub-national levels. Discussions are made based on impacts from the social and economic changes in the last century and the fourth industrial revolution on welfare state transformations in China and India, the world's two largest countries in terms of population and density.First-hand empirical work is conducted by a group of scholars from India and China, which draws on inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural academic traditions to deepen social, cultural and legal understanding between the two countries.This book would appeal to undergraduate and graduate students in comparative sociology, political science, law and comparative welfare studies as well as researchers in these fields, as well as researchers in policy think-tanks and research institutes and officials in government and non-governmental organizations.

This book offers insights into the development of social welfare policies by exploring the interconnections between policies and practice throughout history. It challenges tacitly accepted arguments that favour particular approaches to welfare, such as conditionality and eligibility. It provides examples of enduring social assumptions which influence the way we perform social welfare, such as the equivocal position of women in social welfare and the unintended consequences of reforms such as Universal Credit. By identifying continuities in welfare policy, practice and thought, it offers the potential for the development of new thinking, policy making and practice.

This book explores the role and effect of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) with different dimensions. It is being supported with strong empirical evidence into various parameters of MFIs directed towards inclusive finance and the transformation journey of livelihoods of its beneficiaries.It also incorporates empirical evidence with the perception of both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. Starting its journey toward the path of comprehending how MFIs make their footprint among the excluded population in the selected areas, it incorporates the different outcomes of MFI lending like credit utilisation patterns, income generation, and employability. As financial stability helps to break out the vicious cycle of poverty, this book emphasises the self-dependent element for the beneficiaries and their households. It addresses the important issue of the female counterparts in society. It shows how the MFIs work actively to generate female empowerment from multiple dimensions among the selected communities. It addresses key issues to consider for inclusive policy formulation, especially for backward communities in the backward areas and gives a realistic scenario of the MFI activities, their interactions with the respondents, the various outcomes, and areas for further developments, etc. This book is beneficial for academicians, researchers, and policymakers.

The objective of this Element is to provide an analysis of social protection from an economic perspective. It relies on tools and methods widely used in public and insurance economics and comprises four main section besides the introduction. The first section is devoted to the design of social protection programs and their political sustainability. The second section assesses the efficiency and performance of social protection programs, and of the welfare state as a whole. In the third section, the relative merits of social and private insurance are analyzed as well as the design of optimum insurance contract with emphasis on health and pensions. The last section focuses on the implications of asymmetric information that may lead governments to adopt policies that would otherwise be rejected in a perfect information setting.

Inspired by the democratic origins of the Greek naval victory at Salamis, the book discusses the current pressing issues of democracy worldwide. In 12 carefully selected chapters, well-renowned scholars from around the globe discuss topics such as Brexit, Euroscepticism, or the rise of populism. The authors further analyze various aspects of democracy, as well as various types of democratic regimes, such as mixed government, direct democracy, and cases of quasi democracies. While doing so, they relate this discussion to the pivotal question of how the quality of democracy today can be improved, seeking answers and solutions to current pending problems at the global level. This book is the second out of two edited volumes as a sequel of an international academic conference titled Salamis and Democracy: 2500 Years After that took place between October 3rd and October 5th, 2020, on the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of the great historical event of the Battle of Salamis, which saved Greek culture and the newly founded democratic regimes throughout the Hellenic world during the Classical period (508-323 BCE). The book is a must-read for scholars and students of political science, economics, and law, as well as policy-makers interested in a better understanding of democracy, governance, populism, social choice, and constitutional law.

The second edition of this Palgrave Pivot offers a history of and proof against claims of "buying power" and the impact this myth has had on understanding media, race, class and economics in the United States. For generations Black people have been told they have what is now said to be more than one trillion dollars of "buying power," and this book argues that commentators have misused this claim largely to blame Black communities for their own poverty based on squandered economic opportunity. This book exposes the claim as both a marketing strategy and myth, while also showing how that myth functions simultaneously as a case study for propaganda and commercial media coverage of economics. In sum, while ¿buying power¿ is indeed an economic and marketing phrase applied to any number of racial, ethnic, religious, gender, age or group of consumers, it has a specific application to Black America. A new foreword by Dr. Darrick Hamilton, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy at the New School (in New York, USA), and a new chapter on cryptocurrencies are included in this new edition.

This book presents research on recent developments in collective decision-making. With contributions from leading scholars from a variety of disciplines, it provides an up-to-date overview of applications in social choice theory, welfare economics, and industrial organization. The contributions address, amongst others, topics such as measuring power, the manipulability of collective decisions, and experimental approaches. Applications range from analysis of the complicated institutional rules of the European Union to responsibility-based allocation of cartel damages or the design of webpage rankings. With its interdisciplinary focus, the book seeks to bridge the gap between different disciplinary approaches by pointing to open questions that can only be resolved through collaborative efforts.

This book sheds new light on the evolution and transformation of polytheistic religions. By applying economic models to the study of religious history and by viewing religious events as the result of rational choices under given environmental constraints, it offers a political economy perspective for the study of Indo-European polytheism. The book formally models the rivalry or competition among multiple gods in a polytheistic system and the monotheistic solution to this competition. Presenting case studies on the transformation and demise of various polytheistic religions, it highlights the pivotal role of the priestly class in driving religious change and suggests a joint explanation for the demise of Greco-Roman religion and the resilience of Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. It will appeal to scholars of the economics of religion and religious history and to anyone seeking new insights into the birth and death of religions, and the birth of monotheism in particular.

This book provides a comprehensive mathematical description and analysis of the delegate allocation processes in the US Democratic and Republican presidential primaries, focusing on the role of apportionment methods and the effect of thresholds¿the minimum levels of support required to receive delegates. The analysis involves a variety of techniques, including theoretical arguments, simplicial geometry, Monte Carlo simulation, and examination of presidential primary data from 2004 to 2020. The book is divided into two parts: Part I defines the classical apportionment problem and explains how the implementation and goals of delegate apportionment differ from those of apportionment for state representation in the US House of Representatives and for party representation in legislatures based on proportional representation. The authors then describe how delegates are assigned to states and congressional districts and formally define the delegate apportionment methods usedin each state by the two major parties to allocate delegates to presidential candidates. Part II analyzes and compares the apportionment methods introduced in Part I based on their level of bias and adherence to various notions of proportionality. It explores how often the methods satisfy the quota condition and quantifies their biases in favor or against the strongest and weakest candidates. Because the methods are quota-based, they are susceptible to classical paradoxes like the Alabama and population paradoxes. They also suffer from other paradoxes that are more relevant in the context of delegate apportionment such as the elimination and aggregation paradoxes. The book evaluates the extent to which each method is susceptible to each paradox. Finally, it discusses the appointment of delegates based on divisor methods and notions of regressive proportionality.This book appeals to scholars and students interested in mathematical economics and political science, with an emphasis on apportionment and social choice theory.

Written by leading scholars from various disciplines, this book presents current research on topics such as public choice, game theory, and political economy. It features contributions on fundamental, methodological, and empirical issues around the concepts of power and responsibility that strive to bridge the gap between different disciplinary approaches. The contributions fall into roughly four sub-disciplines: voting and voting power, public economics and politics, economics and philosophy, as well as labor economics.On the occasion of his 75th birthday, this book is written in honor of Manfred J. Holler, an economist by training and profession whose work as a guiding light has helped advance our understanding of the interdisciplinary connections of concepts of power and responsibility. He has written many articles and books on game theory, and worked extensively on questions of labor economics, politics, and philosophy.

This book introduces the concept of 'melting labour' and provides a real depiction of how workers lose control over their lives and experience precariousness in labour markets.

Why doesn't healthcare get better and cheaper like the cell phones we carry in our pockets? In this book, James B. Rebitzer and Robert S. Rebitzer argue that it's because the healthcare system generates the wrong kinds of innovation. Further, they show that incentive contracts, professional norms, social narratives, and the nature of competition and disruption in the health sector conspire against cost-reducing innovation. The book not only sheds new light on the trajectory of innovation in healthcare, but it also highlights how we can point innovation in a better direction to deliver more value to patients and society.