A Choice Between Two Models

Abstract

What will happen to the Swedish welfare model? Right now, it is heading towards a divided welfare state, that is, two different welfare states in one and the same country. This chapter summarizes the findings and argues that development is not set in stone. Above all, it is not economically justified. As a result of the relative and inevitable price increase in welfare services, public as well as private and semi-private, all welfare models are associated with increased relative costs, and the divided welfare state tends to be the most expensive of them all. Thus, it is about politics rather than economics. It is a political choice between different welfare models, a choice that basically revolves around our view of society and ourselves.