THE WELFARE AND SOCIAL WAGE: ITALY AS A SEMI-SOCIAL MARKET ECONOMY (SSME)

FAZELI Reza, California State University, Fullerton

FAZELI Rafat, California State University, Fullerton

SHAIKH Anwar, New School for Social Research

Abstract:
This paper reviews the recent development of the welfare state and social policy in Italy. On the empirical level, our study is concerned with the benefits received and taxes paid by the working population. This measurement will enable us to find out whether the working population has received a net gain (or net social wage). The paper offers a comparative study of the trends of the “social wage” in Italy in the last decades before the Great Recession. It addresses two major questions. The first question is whether the expansion of social expenditures has posed any drag on capital accumulation and economic growth in this country. The second question is whether the increasing ideological challenges from the right and the competitive pressures of globalization have led to retrenchment of the Italian welfare states in the recent decades.

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Volume: 71, Issue: 1

Pages: 27 - 38

Publication date: March, 2019

Download the article: http://economice.ulbsibiu.ro/revista.economica/archive/71103fazeli&fazeli&shaikh.pdf

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