Does the West Know Best?
Edited By Terence O’Dwyer
December 2005
Stockholm Network
ISBN: 0954766342 
86 pages, Illustrated, 5” x 7 ¾”
$22.50 Paper Original
Accession of the central and eastern European states has provided impetus for a fundamental re-evaluation of Europe’s economic and social model. New member states were forced to introduce radical reforms to tackle the deepseated problems of the welfare state, and in so-doing they have challenged the orthodoxy of western European systems. With the west now facing the impending crises of an aging population, unsustainable healthcare systems: should the new member states be emulating western Europe? Or should ‘old’ Europe mimic the reforms of its newest partners?
Indeed, does ‘old’ Europe’ have any choice but to reform? This book assembles leading thinkers from both eastern and western Europe to examine whether the EU-15 can learn from the more radical approaches of some of the new member states to social and economic reform, such as flat taxation, the privatization of social security, and moves towards more market-oriented health systems. It questions the sustainability of the European economic and social model, while seeking solutions to its endemic problems.
Contents include:
Introduction
Ageing and ailing societies: health and social security reform
Taxing times: tax, competition and regulation
Robust or rigid? The Future labor market
Economics; Healthcare Policy
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