Nordic mass media regularly announce the end of equality in the Nordic countries – is it a reality or merely another example of journalistic dramatisation and myth-building? In this book we aim to clarify in what ways equality has actually characterised the Nordic countries and to what extent we now find less equality in earnings and disposable incomes, participation in paid employment and informal care, social participation, educational achievements and health and well-being. Assuming that we can confirm that there has been a shift away from equality, we should then be able to point to factors and mechanisms that have...

The increasing level of ethnic heterogeneity² in Europe has spurred a debate about the relationship between ethnic diversity and income redistribution by the state. The current debate is much inspired by Alesina and Glaeser’s (2004) sceptical view of the possibility of reconciling ethnic diversity and generous welfare arrangements.³

The debate about the relationship between ethnic diversity and the welfare state is of particular interest for the Nordic countries, which developed their comparatively generous welfare states in a context of ethnic homogeneity. Over the last three decades, however, non-Western immigration has made the Nordic countries less homogeneous. In Denmark and Norway,...

Does equality in outcomes lead to a preference for equality? Compared to other OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, the Nordic countries have welfare systems characterised by high levels of redistribution, universal coverage and generous cash benefits and social services. This welfare state architecture has resulted in high levels of equality in socioeconomic and social outcomes. However, while conventional wisdom has it that the populations in the Nordic countries have ‘a passion for equality’ that matches the high level of actual equality, results from comparative research on welfare attitudes suggest otherwise. Indeed, when compared to other OECD countries,...

Means-tested social assistance and minimum income benefits mitigate financial hardship and alleviate poverty. Whereas social insurance aims to provide protection against loss in work-related income, and family or child benefits are intended to compensate households for additional child-related costs, social assistance is meant to provide a safety net for households that have insufficient incomes and that do not qualify for other types of public support. Several scholars point to the necessity of a system of well-functioning minimum income benefits. According to Marshall (1950), the provision of a certain minimum income for all members of society is among one of the...

The Nordic countries are renowned for high levels of both equality and tax-funded social service provision. Equality and services are linked by the roles that extensive provision of services plays in enabling women’s labour market participation and in ensuring that the capacity to pay does not determine access to services. The connection between institutional structures and equality achievements led Jorma Sipilä to argue in the mid-1990s that social care services are the key to the Scandinavian welfare model. Although Sipilä’s argument has since been challenged (see, for example, Rauch, 2007), any reassessment of the Nordic welfare model would not be...

Much intellectual effort has been expended on debating welfare state regimes – whether they exist (and, if so, how many), what their central characteristics are and whether they are becoming more similar or not. In hisThree worlds of welfare capitalism, which launched an avalanche of welfare regime studies, Gøsta Esping-Andersen (1990) emphasised that a welfare state regime consists of a multifaceted interplay between labour markets and social policies. From this perspective he distinguished three clusters of welfare state: Nordic, Liberal and Corporatist regimes. The hallmark of the Nordic welfare state, consisting of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, is a...

It is now widely acknowledged that welfare states are important determinants of health as they mediate the extent, and impact, of socioeconomic position on health (Navarro et al, 2003, 2006; Bambra, 2006a; Chung and Muntaner, 2007; Eikemo et al, 2008a). Welfare state provision varies extensively, but typologies have been put forward to categorise them into three, four or even five distinctive types or welfare state regimes (see Chapter 1). The concept of welfare state regimes has been used to analyse cross-national differences in population health. These studies have almost invariably concluded that population health is enhanced by the relatively generous...

The comparatively low degrees of income inequalities and relative poverty rates have long been a salient feature of the Nordic countries. Low inequality and low poverty rates are commonly viewed as key ingredients of what constitutes the Nordic welfare model (see, for example, Kautto et al, 1999), with strong influences from institutional characteristics and welfare state redistribution systems (see, for example, Brandolini and Smeeding, 2007; Bäckman, 2009; Fritzell and Ritakallio, 2010). A fundamental dimension of these social schemes – and of the Nordic model in general – is universalism (Kildal and Kuhnle, 2005). No doubt, there is abundant evidence that...

The idea that substantial immigration, especially from countries outside the rich West, is incompatible with a Nordic kind of welfare state, has been put forward in the debate on immigration. This chapter asks under what conditions immigration from countries outside the rich West is – or might become – a real and significant challenge to the economic sustainability of the Nordic welfare model. Immigration might, for instance, have an effect on wages and employment. More specifically, this chapter examines if immigration might lead to a financial weakening of the Nordic welfare state.

We ask to what extent immigration leads to...

In the introductory chapter to this volume (Chapter One) we identified a number of key issues related to current changes in social inequality in the Nordic countries. In these concluding remarks we first summarise the main factors contributing to the changes, based on the analyses presented in the individual chapters. Second, we discuss whether the Nordic welfare states have been able to prevent or mitigate increasing inequalities. Finally, we seek to give some answers to the critical question raised in the introductory chapter: are the Nordic countries managing to stem the international tide of inequality better, worse or perhaps just...