Will Success Spoil the Welfare State?

The international economic crisis that began in 1973-74 demonstrated the value of the welfare state everywhere in the West. It cushioned the shock for both the individual and the economy, and it helped avoid the abject misery and political extremism that followed in the wake of sharp declines in the past.

This was particularly true in Scandinavia where benefit levels had been raised sharply, coverage expanded, and new programs initiated in the prosperity of the late 1960s and early 197...