The European Welfare Model. Is Romania a Welfare State?!

• Author: Pop-Radu, I.
• Position: PhD. Candidate in Finance, Doctoral School of Babes Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
• Pages: 171-178

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series V: Economic Sciences • Vol. 7 (56) No. 1 - 2014

THE EUROPEAN WELFARE MODEL.

IS ROMANIA A WELFARE STATE?!

Ioana POP-RADU1

Abstract: The paper presents the various interpretations of the social

model and welfare regime concepts. In order to observe Romania’s position

within the European welfare regimes, the paper presents a short analysis of

the main characteristics of the welfare regimes identified in Europe – i.e. the

corporatist welfare regime, the liberal welfare regime and the social

democratic/Scandinavian welfare system. We analyze the dynamics of

several indicators relevant for establishing the performance of the Romanian

welfare regime. Using the results of this study, the current research might

offer a new approach on proving that Romania’s case is a particular one

among the CEE countries and its sustainability could become a model for

other countries.

Key words: welfare regime, growth rate, tax burden, social cohesion.

1 PhD. Candidate in Finance, Doctoral School of Babes Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of

Economic Sciences and Business Administration, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

1. The conceptualization of Social Model

and Welfare State Model

The literature on this topic is consistently

and rather controversial. Academic

analyses have theorised and comp ared

these concepts beginning with 1950’s

when Titmuss distinguishes tax-funded

welfare based on citizens social rights

based on the social insurance contributions

of the employees.

As Marshall T.H. pointed out that the

18th century was when civil rights became

established as the legitimate goal of social

reform, the 19th century has legitimated the

political rights and the 20th century

recognized the social rights. Nowadays,

Standing G. (2001) appreciates and

predicts that the 21st century will

consolidate the economic rights in order to

sustain long-term development of an

economy [8].

The relatively close connection between

economic development and the level of

social security have imposed the usage of

the both two concepts: “social state” and

“welfare state”. Even if the terms are

generally synonymous, Heise A. and

Lierse H. (2011) identify several

asymmetries. Therefore, they propose to

use the term “welfare state” only when

state intervention involves not just a

social adjustment or social protection but

broader social and economic policy

change in order to increase societal

welfare. Respectively, the “social state” is

reserved for the states that adopt and

apply social protection against the five

basic life risks – old age, illness,

unemployment, accident and poverty. In