Understanding Welfare State Models: Social, Continental, and Liberal

Posted on Jan 9, 2025 in Economy

Characteristics of the Welfare State

Economic Interventionism: Controls 40-50% of GDP.
Labor Market Participation: Promotes full employment by regulating workplace safety and hygiene, and setting the minimum wage.
Collective Bargaining: Acts as a chair in collective bargaining processes.
Universal Social Security: Provides social security for the entire population.
High Consumption Levels: Generalizes high levels of consumption, stimulating job creation.
Minimum Standard of Living: Guarantees a minimum standard of living, even for marginalized individuals.
Subsidies: Subsidizes educational, cultural, and monetary policies.
Monetary and Fiscal Policies: Intervenes with monetary and fiscal policies.

Funded through general taxation, with a high degree of universal provision of social services and personal care, and generous financial benefits.
Minimal market share, with a strong emphasis on family.
The state intervenes forcefully in the economy, prioritizing income redistribution and equality of opportunity.
Social programs are extensive, well-funded, and cover the entire population.
Public services are excellent; only the very wealthy do not use them.
The state has aggressive family support policies, including social services, maternity and paternity leave, childcare, and direct support. The birth rate is quite high.
Regarding the liberal market, regulation is weak, with inexpensive dismissals. However, generous unemployment benefits (received only while seeking work and reduced if offers are rejected) and aggressive employability policies offset this vulnerability.

Rights are related to social class and status.
The state has a limited redistributive impact, playing a subsidiary role to the family. It intervenes only when family welfare assistance is insufficient. Therefore, decommodification is modest, and the sphere of partnership is corporatist and familial.
State intervention is significant, but the will for redistribution is limited.
Social programs cover the entire population; however, the level of benefits often depends on previous income.
The amount of unemployment benefits, for example, is related to previous contributions, as are pensions.
Universal programs typically lack star quality, leading upper classes to often use the private sector.
There are few aggressive social policies, such as employment policies that include retraining for the unemployed, free or extensive childcare, and tightly regulated labor markets to protect the unemployed.
This type of state is found in Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, Italy, and Spain.

The market is fundamental and pervasive in the welfare structure. State aid is characterized by limited, modest subsidies for the lower class and discrete universal transfers to limit the scope of social rights through access to healthcare benefits under a means test.
State intervention is limited, and wealth redistribution is a secondary objective.
Social programs cover only the poor. Unemployment benefits are limited and short-lived. Healthcare is largely private, with public programs for retirees and low-income individuals.