Chapter 4: Risk and (welfare state) politics
Philipp Rehm
Category:
Chapter
Published:
13 Sep 2022
Page Range:
53–69
Collection:
Sociology, Social Policy and Education 2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788972260.00012
Keywords:
Welfare state; risk; insurance; asymmetric information; mutual aid societies; social policy
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Modern democracies are insurance companies with an army. Why did all modern democracies develop far-reaching social insurance systems that cover most citizens from the main adversities of modern life? This essay sketches a framework to make sense of this puzzling pattern. The framework combines insights from economic models, which focus on information problems, and political models, which focus on social choice problems. The framework is applied to analyzing the transition from voluntary mutual aid societies to mandatory social insurance programs.

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Cover Handbook on Risk and Inequality
Handbook on Risk and Inequality
Edited by
Dean Curran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8771-1141
Handbook
Published:
13 Sep 2022
Print ISBN:
9781788972253
eISBN:
9781788972260
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788972260
Pages:
292
Collection:
Sociology, Social Policy and Education 2022
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