Eastern Enlargement of the European Union challenged the design of European Welfare states. Many authors discuss the impact of East European social security systems on their West European counterparts and fear a “race to the bottom”. This paper addresses welfare state developments in the...

Welfare state regimes vary in their redistribution strategies. Some welfare states have extensive taxable social insurance schemes, while others rely more on non-taxable means-tested benefits. In order to assess the distributive effects of different program types, it is necessary to analyze...

Im Rahmen dieses Beitrags wird die Frage analysiert, ob ein großzügig ausgestalteter Sozialstaat zusätzliche Wanderungsanreize generieren kann, die eine nennenswerte Zuwanderung in das Sozialversicherungssystem zur Folge hat. Darüber hinaus werden verschiedene Politikoptionen zur...

Germany's social security system is surveyed, its benefits and contributions are discussed. The expansion of this system in the last decades is described, its impact on employment and growth is studied and proposals for the reform of the system are discussed.