Introduction: Adapting Public Policies for an Ageing Society

Abstract

DOI: 10.1080/13876980701833573 time, however, public entitlements such as old-age pensions and health care remain extremely popular. Political actors, fearful of the negative consequences associated with retrenchment policies, have contributed to the immobility of the welfare state, a ''frozen landscape''(Esping-Andersen 1996, see also Pierson 1996, Green-Pedersen and Haverland 2002). The thesis of the immobility of the welfare state has been challenged recently by comparative analyses demonstrating how these conflicting …