Welfare: Brief Books about Big Ideas by Carsten Jensen (Reflections)

A short but engaging look at how nations have succeeded and failed at welfare.

In Welfare, political scientist Carsten Jensen examines how the Danish welfare model leads to some of the highest levels of happiness, education, and health in the world. He argues that this welfare model is a success story because it has created a remarkable level of equality and forged strong links between people and public institutions. Jensen probes four central questions about this model: Why do Danes support the welfare state? Which historic events and people have enabled such intimate links to arise between the state and welfare? How much welfare do Danes actually get? And finally, how has Denmark been able to combine welfare and wealth, and how viable will this model be in the future?