Germany’s Welfare State From Necessity to Crises Biruk Terrefe January, 2014 German Politics and Culture Instructor: Maximilian Held
Jun 23, 2015
Germany’s Welfare StateFrom Necessity to Crises
Biruk TerrefeJanuary, 2014
German Politics and CultureInstructor: Maximilian Held
What is a welfare state?
“A system whereby the state takes responsibility for the welfare of its citizens, in case of unemployment, illness, old age or poverty.”
Where are we right
now?
Source: DeStatis (2014)
How did we get here?
1794
“The old patriarchal position of the state is clearly defined in” the
Prussian Landrecht”
“Hamburg is credited with […] a poor relief system”
- Rimlinger (1971)
GERMANY
1800s
“ideological predisposed to social protection of the individual,
since this was implicit in the patriarchal social ideal.”
– Rimlinger (1971)
1840s
“If a state failed to solve the social problem raised by
industrialism, it would stand helpless against the ‘solidarity
of misfortune’.”
– Louis Blanc
1850 – 1870
“Iron Law of Wages”
–Ferdinand Lasalle
1880s
“State must take matters in hand ‘not as a matter of charity, but as
a right to support’ ”
– Otto von Bismarck
Industrial accident insurance 1883
Health Insurance 1884
Old age and invalidity bill 1889
1900s
“It was tragic that in the midst of a growing economic crisis, the burden of social insurance
benefits become the issue that triggered the collapse of the
ruling coalition and opened the road to totalitarianism”
– Rimlinger (1971)
1930s
“Hitler turned social insurance into an instrument of economic
and social control”
– Rimlinger (1971)
1953
“Reforms were necessary, even if Germany had won the war.”
– Rimlinger (1971)
“A system whereby the state takes responsibility for the welfare of its citizens, in case of unemployment, illness, old age or poverty.”
1. Unemployment insurance (SGBI and III)
2. Health Insurance (SGB V)
3. Old Age Pension Insurance (SGB VI)
4. Invalidity Insurance (SGB VII and IX)
5. Child support (SCGB VIII)
6. Social Care (SGB XI)
Today
?Old-Age Dependency Ratio
Labor Market Regimes
Increasing Unemployment Benefits
(1) What kind of reforms would be necessary to improve the current welfare system?
(2) “An economy –through its growth rates and labour market dynamics, provides the great majority of people with enough income so that traditional welfare programs can play a minor role.” What do you think?
ReferencesDeStatis. (2014, January 1). Social Budget . Retrieved January 15th , 2014,
from Statistishes Bundesamt :
https://www.destatis.de/EN/FactsFigures/SocietyState/SocialStatistics/
SocialWelfareBudget/Tables/SocialWelfareBudgetFunctions.html
Federal Statistical Office . (2009). Germany's population by 2060 . Wiesbaden:
DeStatis.
Rimlinger, G. (1971). Germany: Out of the Patriarchal Tradition . In G. Rimlinger,
Welfare Policy and and Industralization in Europe, America and R (pp. 89 - 134). New
York, USA: John Wiley & Sons Inc. .
Sapir, André, Globalisation and the Reform of European Social Models, back-
ground document for the presentation at ECOFIN Informal Meeting in Man- chester, Sept.
9, 2005, pp. 1-13.