Content and objectives
From the 19th century on welfare states have been gradually developed on an ad-hoc basis. Before that era, states were believed to be only responsible for the safety of its citizens. As the welfare states are fully developed at the start of the twenty-first century, states are held responsible for much more. The systems of social security came under serious criticism and many believe nowadays that the systems themselves are unsustainable and that they are a major burden to economic growth and prosperity in Europe. This introductory course compares the different social security and social welfare systems in capitalist economies and discusses their viability and sustainability in a longer-term perspective. The course explores new insights to reorganize the systems in order to guarantee their social and economic survival. The Social Management of Risks is introduced as a new framework to analyze and understand policy interventions. This course is meant to provide an introduction and an overview of the main issues, theories and practices regarding the design and the implementation of modern Welfare States in advanced economies. The course aims at:

• reviewing the insights provided by theories and empirical analyses;
• setting the scene for a comprehensive analysis of social protection policy.

Literature

• Barr N. (2004), The Economics of the Welfare State, 4^th Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Alesina A. and E.L. Glaeser (2004), Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe, A World of Difference, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Neubourg C. de (2006), New Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, World Bank, forthcoming

• Neubourg C. de (2006), Social Security and Nation Building, ILO, forthcoming

• Neubourg C. de and G. Notten (2006), Poverty in Europe and the USA: exchanging Official Measurement Methods, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance Research Memorandum

• Neubourg C. de and J. Castonguay (2006), Enhancing Productivity :Social Policy as Investment Policy, in Mitchell, Muysken and van Veen (eds.), Growth and Cohesion in the European Union, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 181 – 206

• Neubourg  de, Chris and Castonguay, (2006), Impact and Performance of Social Protection Systems in OECD Countries, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance Research Memorandum

• Neubourg de, Chris and Castonguay Julie (2006), The Role of Social Safety nets within the European Social Protection Systems, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance Research Memorandum

• Neubourg de, Chris, Hener Eva and Roelen Keetie, (2006), Targeted Means Tested Social Assistance in Nine European Countries, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance Research Memorandum

• Neubourg de, Chris, Castonguay Julie and Roelen Keetie (2006), The Performance of Social Assistance Systems in Europe, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance Research Memorandum

• Neubourg de, Chris and Nelissen Emy, Reforms in European Social Safety Nets and Innovative Social Engineering, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance Research Memorandum

• Neubourg, de Chris, Castonguay, Julie and Keetie Roelen (2006) Social Safety Nets and Targeted Social Assistance: Lessons from the European Experience, World Bank Social Protection Discussion Paper, forthcoming

• Neubourg C. de and J. Castonguay (2005), Ranking Orders: Performance Indicators for Social Protection Systems, in Cantillon and Marx (eds.), International Cooperation in Social Security, Intersenta, Antwerpen-Oxford, 2005, pp. 93 – 124

• Sebald A. and C. de Neubourg (2003), Paying for Pensions and Other Public Expenditures: Overtaxing Our Children?, Meteor Research Memorandum nr., Maastricht.

• Neubourg C. de (2002), Institutional design and institutional incentives in social safety nets, Social Protection Discussion Paper, Washington DC: World Bank.