Stratification in Changing Swedish Sickness Insurance

Bibliographic Data

ID12627537
AuthorsNadja Grees (corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume17
Issue4
Pages453-480
Publication date2015-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Social Security (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1388-2627 • E-ISSN: 2399-2948
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/138826271501700404
OpenAlexW2540083175
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited17

This paper proposes an analytical approach to capturing gradual institutional change in mature welfare states. The approach takes account of both public and occupational provisions of income security and investigates differences between diverse groups in the labour market, various income levels within such groups, as well as changes over time. The analytical approach is then applied to the empirical case of Swedish sickness insurance, on which new data covering the last 30 years have been collected. The results show that sickness insurance as a whole still offers generous replacement rates but that there has been an institutional shift in the provision of income protection. The earlier system of universal public provision that was closely related to former income has developed into a system where this is the case only for certain groups in the labour market while the rest are dependent on collectively negotiated solutions. Accordingly the traditional Swedish institutional model in which an all-encompassing public system promotes equality of status has been transformed over time. In the absence of an adequate analytical approach this is a fact that has not been fully recognised in earlier welfare state research

Actuarial science · Business · Demographic economics · Economics · General insurance · Income protection insurance · Insurance policy · Labour economics · Market economy · Political science · Public economics · Social insurance · Social security · Welfare · Welfare state · Welfare system · Employment and Welfare Studies · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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