The Birth and Growth of the Social Insurance State: Explaining Old Age and Medical Insurance Across Countries

David Cutler and Richard Johnson ()

Public Choice, 2004, vol. 120, issue 1_2, 87-121

Abstract: We examine the factors leading to creation and growth of national Old-Age Insurance (OAI) and Health Insurance schemes. None of the theories we test fit the data very well. There is weak evidence that the probability of adopting a system declines in a country's wealth and in the ethnic heterogeneity of its population. Catholic countries are more likely to create earnings-related OAI systems. The growth of OAI spending since 1960 has varied considerably across countries, with fast growth in countries emerging from dictatorship and non-English speaking countries. We conclude that social insurance can be politically expedient for many different reasons.

Date: 2004
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Working Paper: The birth and growth of the social-insurance state: explaining old-age and medical insurance across countries (2001)
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