Rise and decline of the welfare state : the swedish case as a solution

Resumen

This article analyses the unsustainability of the welfare state. This unsustainability is not caused by a financial crisis, but is caused by its own design and initial conception. For this, the case of Sweden is shown as an example; and the policies adopted by this Nordic country to correct the unsustainability of the welfare state mentioned above.Design/methodology/approach: The applied methodology has been, on the one hand, a literary review of the welfare state concept. On the other hand, an analysis has been carried out with various economic indicators that serve to corroborate the aforementioned unsustainability and the effect of the decisions taken by Sweden.Research and practical limitations/implications: The analysis of economic variables such as GDP or the collection of taxes on GDP is burdened with the classical limitation on the cause-effect relationship. The problem of causality in economics is one of the most significant in the discipline. This problem is fundamental in historical analyses, when it comes to relating a phenomenon that has occurred with the causes that generated it.