The Quest for a Divided Welfare State

The world famous 'Swedish welfare model' was characterized by public delivery and public funding of central welfare services such as healthcare, education and elderly care. Beginning in the 1990s, delivery of welfare started to be privatized on an ever larger scale. From the 2000s and onwards, we see a similar tendency in the field of funding. The most remarkable example is the rapid rise of private health insurance, which is now signed up to by a tenth of the adult population. This book explores the rise of semi-private welfare solutions that had led to a divided welfare state, between the old and 'visible' model and the new and 'hidden' welfare state.
Who benefits from privatized welfare? How are privatization of delivery and privatization of funding linked? How does this impact willingness to pay tax? Lapidus explores all these questions in this accessible book.

Demonstrates how private delivery is a prerequisite for private funding of welfare A pedagogic and useful text on changing welfare states Highlights how new and semi-private welfare solutions are beneficial only for some groups and classes in society

Autorentext

John Lapidus got his PhD in 2015 at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and since then has been involved in a research project funded by the Torsten Söderberg Foundation. Before his academic career, Lapidus was involved in international cooperation, including working as the head of a small Swedish NGO in Nicaragua between 2006 and 2008. He has written two novels about his experiences in Zimbabwe and Nicaragua, and also worked as a journalist for several years.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: The divided welfare state.- Chapter 2: To buy ahead.- Chapter 3: Private provision and private funding.- Chapter 4: State as sponsor.- Chapter 5: Half private healthcare.- Chapter 6: Half private elderly care.- Chapter 7: Half private education.- Chapter 8: Relieve or hollow out.- Chapter 9: A farewell to trust and tax willingness.- Chapter 10: A spiral of rising costs.- Chapter 11: A burden for the common.- Chapter 12: Rhetoric and practice.- Chapter 13: The ambivalent actors.- Chapter 14: Right or commodity.- Chapter 15: The twisted debate.- Chapter 16: Future funding of welfare.- Chapter 17: A choice between two models. <p