Friday, January 6, 2012

Portugal’s Plight: The Role of Social Democracy

From The Heritage Foundation and The Independent Institute:






Economic Growth





Portugal’s Plight: The Role of Social Democracy



by George Bragues



Independent Institute



January 05, 2012



The Independent Review





Portugal’s plight is a warning to other Western industrialized nations, all of which have welfare states of one extent or another to finance. The graying of the population, portending relatively fewer workers to pay escalating pension and health-care benefits, combined with the additional debt amassed by governments in dealing with the recent financial crisis, poses a monumental challenge to governments faced with the expenses of maintaining their respective welfare states. Portugal is among the first to succumb to this challenge only because it expanded its social democracy relatively quickly and had a smaller capital accumulation from which to draw resources for the delivery of public services.





URL: www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_16_03_1_bragues.pdf







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