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Kangas O. One hundred years of money, welfare and death: mortality, economic growth and the development of the welfare state in 17 OECD countries 1900–2000Int J Soc Welfare 2010: ••: ••–••© 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare.The article focuses on the role played by the welfare state vis‐à‐vis GDP in the increase of life expectancy in 17 OECD countries 1900–2000. The article shows that money matters, war kills and the welfare state is good for health. There is a curvilinear relationship between prosperity and longevity: after a certain level, the marginal utility of an extra dollar levels off. In the longer run, growth is a necessary but not sufficient condition. The welfare state plays its role, too. Bigger is better, be it with regard to social spending or the generosity or coverage of social protection. For the life expectancy of a population to increase, it is better to have broader coverage or universal access to care than to have more generous benefits, which are channelled to a limited circle of citizens. It is better to give adequately to all than lavishly to too few.

Abstract This article traces past and present trends in the institutional development of sickness daily allowance schemes in eighteen OECD countries. We are interested whether there still are—or if there ever have been—distinctive models in sickness benefits. The historical part of the study inspects the development of coverage and generosity benefits. Thereafter the extent to which sickness benefits have been targets for retrenchment will be analysed. The study shows that up until 1985 the Nordic programmes guaranteed better benefits than corporatist schemes, but the situation has since changed, and the Nordic countries do not any longer provide higher compensations. In this respect, these two groups of countries have clearly converged and simultaneously their distance from the countries with basic security or targeted schemes has increased. When it comes to coverage, the Scandinavian schemes have to a great extent preserved their universality, whereas the other groups of countries have lost a bit in their coverage. Thus, in this dimension at least, we can still depict a clear Scandinavian pattern. However, there are indications of convergence towards the corporatist or labour market‐based model.

This paper adapts the Rawlsian idea of decision making behind the veil of ignorance in the realm of income transfer systems. As rational decision makers, we would plan a society where the incidence of poverty is low, differences in the level of living between life cycles are small, income differences between the rich and poor are modest, income mobility from poverty to non‐poverty is high, and where the living standard of the poor is decent. The results show that income mobility is not greater in those countries which have wide income differences, nor is the situation of the poor any better in countries with huge income disparities than in other countries. Cross‐national comparisons indicate that high poverty rates are not associated with more rapid income mobility and higher standards for the poor.

In all societies people seek shelter against such risk where their livelihood is for some reason endangered. Childhood, sickness, accidents, and old age are classical examples of social risks that a society somehow must encounter. A society that does not take care of its vulnerable members is not a sustainable one. Therefore, some kind of collective risk pooling and collective safety nets are necessary for a society to sustain itself. The structure of our study is as follows: Firstly, we describe the data used in this study. Secondly, in order to set the study of social policy in a wider frame of references it is fruitful to inspect economic development in post- socialist countries and in western nations. Thereafter follows a section on institutional arrangements guaranteeing social protection in case of old-age, sickness, childbirth, and unemployment. Fourthly, in addition to institutional set ups we are interested in analyzing the effectivity of those institutions. Effectivity will be measured by using some standard methods in this field of study: income distribution and poverty. Moreover, we will study the effectivity of social transfer systems to alleviate poverty in various countries. Fourthly, and lastly, we are interested in the costs of social security. What are the total costs and how is the burden divided between different sources of financing? What is the proportion of the insured, employers, and the public sector in the financing of social security in different countries?

Recent social policy debates have revolved around different typologies of the welfare states. Although these typologies portray large historical trends, empirical tests of the exist ence of the welfare state models are often based on cross-sectional inspections. For several reasons, cross-sectional analyses may give biased results. The present paper assesses longitudinal patterns in social policy forma tion in Finland, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, each representing a different variant of social policy models. In particular, the paper deals with historical trends and present problems of the Scandinavian model of social policy. The historical review studies whether the Nordic countries ever shared a common social policy pattern. The examin ation of the present-day challenges discusses whether current policy responses make these countries more similar to other countries.