[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/keo/dpaper/2016-006.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Process of Universalism in the Danish Welfare System: The multi-tiered need's testing system in Denmark

Author

Listed:
  • Shintaro Kurachi

    (Graduate School of Economics, Keio University)

Abstract
This article analyzes the relationship between a needs-based decision system and universalism in the policy formation process of the Social Help Act (Bitandsloven). The Danish welfare system is still a universal welfare system; the idea of universalism is embedded in its historical institutional changes. Among the historical changes to the welfare system, the introduction of the Social Help Act in 1976 was especially important to its universalism. This law integrated the previous seven welfare laws, introduced benefit levels based on needs-testing, integrated offices, and increased municipal discretion. However, this policy formation process and its effects were complex because the idea of universalism poses the problem of how a government can capture needs and which levels of needs are appropriate for receiving assistance. The increasing discretion of municipalities in deciding the needs of each client has led to them carrying out needs-capturing, but the burden on social workers has increased. In other words, there has been tension between the state government and local governments regarding needs-testing. This means that the relationship between universalization and big government, which generates much tax revenue, is not independent, but that the change in fiscal situation has led to a change in how the universalistic welfare system recognized by policymakers.

Suggested Citation

  • Shintaro Kurachi, 2016. "The Process of Universalism in the Danish Welfare System: The multi-tiered need's testing system in Denmark," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2016-006, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    • Handle: RePEc:keo:dpaper:2016-006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ies.keio.ac.jp/upload/pdf/en/DP2016-006.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenworthy, Lane, 2013. "Progress for the Poor," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199676927.
    2. Brady, David & Bostic, Amie, 2015. "Paradoxes of Social Policy: Welfare Transfers, Relative Poverty, and Redistribution Preferences," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 80(2), pages 268-298.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elvire Guillaud & Matthew Olckers & Michaël Zemmour, 2020. "Four Levers of Redistribution: The Impact of Tax and Transfer Systems on Inequality Reduction," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(2), pages 444-466, June.
    2. Victor Amoureux & Elvire Guillaud & Michaël Zemmour, 2019. "It Takes Two to Tango Income and Payroll Taxes in Progressive Tax Systems," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-02735278, HAL.
    3. Xabier Garcia-Fuente, 2021. "The Paradox of Redistribution in Time. Social Spending in 53 Countries, 1967-2018," LIS Working papers 815, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    4. Victor Amoureux & Elvire Guillaud & Michaël Zemmour, 2019. "It Takes Two to Tango Income and Payroll Taxes in Progressive Tax Systems," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-02735278, HAL.
    5. Munoz de Bustillo Llorente Rafael & FERNANDEZ MACIAS Enrique & GONZALEZ VAZQUEZ Ignacio, 2020. "Universality in Social Protection: An Inquiry about its Meaning and Measurement," JRC Research Reports JRC122953, Joint Research Centre.
    6. Parolin, Zachary & Gornick, Janet C., 2021. "Pathways toward Inclusive Income Growth: A Comparative Decomposition of National Growth Profiles," SocArXiv rsxz6, Center for Open Science.
    7. Sebastian Sir n, 2024. "Making Growth Inclusive? Do Government Transfers Moderate the Effect of Economic Growth on Absolute and Relative Child Poverty?," LIS Working papers 879, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    8. David Coady, 2023. "In Search of a Paradox of Redistribution Analysis of Fiscal Redistribution in High-Income Countries," LIS Working papers 871, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    9. Zachary Parolin & Janet Gornick, 2021. "Pathways toward Inclusive Income Growth: A Comparative Decomposition of National Growth Profiles," LIS Working papers 802, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    10. Zhao, Chunkai & Chen, Boou & Song, Zhiyong, 2024. "School nutritious feeding and cognitive abilities of students in poverty: Evidence from the nutrition improvement program in China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    11. Bruno, Bosco & Ambra, Poggi, 2016. "Government effectiveness, middle class and poverty in the EU: A dynamic multilevel analysis," Working Papers 344, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 27 Jun 2016.
    12. Bea Cantillon & Natascha Van Mechelen, 2013. "Poverty reduction and social security: Cracks in a policy paradigm," Working Papers 1304, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    13. Ben Spies-Butcher & Ben Phillips & Troy Henderson, 2020. "Between universalism and targeting: Exploring policy pathways for an Australian Basic Income," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(4), pages 502-523, December.
    14. Daoud, Adel & Johansson, Fredrik, 2019. "Estimating Treatment Heterogeneity of International Monetary Fund Programs on Child Poverty with Generalized Random Forest," SocArXiv awfjt, Center for Open Science.
    15. Lane Kenworthy & Timothy Smeeding, 2013. "GINI Country Report: Growing Inequalities and their Impacts in the United States," GINI Country Reports united_states, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    16. Brady, David, 2022. "Income And Wealth As Salient Gradational Aspects Of Stratification," SocArXiv pny3t, Center for Open Science.
    17. Rambotti, Simone, 2020. "Is there a relationship between welfare-state policies and suicide rates? Evidence from the U.S. states, 2000–2015," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    18. Naoki Akaeda, 2023. "Does Social Policy Crowd Out or Crowd In Social Trust? The Perspectives of Transfer Share, Low-Income Targeting, and Universalism," LIS Working papers 870, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    19. repec:aia:ginidp:dp53 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Liberati, P., 2024. "Are European health models still different?," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2441, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    21. Bodenstein, Thilo & Kemmerling, Achim, 2015. "A Paradox of Redistribution in International Aid? The Determinants of Poverty-Oriented Development Assistance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 359-369.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    universalism; local autonomy; need; Social Help Act; Denmark;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:keo:dpaper:2016-006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iekeijp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.