La politica sociale dell'Unione Europea nel contesto della globalizzazione.

Journal article

This paper sets the theoretical debate on the future of the welfare state in the context of the European Union social policy: it shows that the EU has adopted an integrated approach to both economic and social objectives, and illustrates the origins and evolution of the current social inclusion process, the related structure of policy making, and the European social indicators. The author then considers the nature of the challenge to the European system of social protection, and the argument that the pressures of globalisation threaten its continuation. He shows that, in order to meet the challenges of globalisation, there are alternatives to welfare state retrenchments. The comparative part of this paper shows that, in distributionally adjusted terms, the US has not outperformed Europe. Moreover, there is considerable diversity within the European Member States. This leaves ample scope for the least well-performing Member States to improve their performance.

Authors: Atkinson, A

• Journal: Studi Economici
• Volume: S87
• Pages: 19 - 22
• Publication date: 2005-01-01
• ISSN: 0039-2928
• Language: Italian