Few episodes in the history of Swedish social democracy have been as widely celebrated as the struggles of the 1950s over the development of the pension system. The debates strengthened the collective affiliations of those involved and eased the task of explaining to voters how the political parties differed from one another at a time when social welfare was beginning to be viewed as political public property.

In perspective, and as much research indicates, the institutional design of the Swedish pension system in terms of the so-called "income security principle" was to have far-reaching power-strategic consequences. By limiting the scope for insurance alternatives offered by the financial markets, and by guaranteeing the living standard of a broader stratum of wage earners, it contributed to the middle class's integration into the emerging welfare state. In addition, it strengthened the Social Democratic Party's standing with its electoral base, thereby helping to ensure the party's its long-term incumbency.

Despite the heritage, a broad consensus of the social democrat submitted to the Swedish Parliament in 1994 guidelines for a pension system reformed in a different direction.

Download Info

To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

Publisher Info

Paper provided by Institute for Futures Studies in its series Arbetsrapport with number 2005:1.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 44 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2005_001

Note: ISSN 1652-120X ISBN 91-89655-59-1
Contact details of provider:
Postal: Institute for Futures Studies, Box 591, SE-101 31 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: 08-402 12 00
Fax: 08-24 50 14
Email:
Web page: http://www.framtidsstudier.se
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Taeda Tomic).

Related research

Keywords: pension reform; Social Democratic Party;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

• NEP-ALL-2005-04-03 (All new papers)
• NEP-HIS-2005-04-03 (Business, Economic & Financial History)

Did you know? You too can volunteer for RePEc, for example by editing a NEP report.

This page was last updated on 2009-12-8.