Redesigning the Welfare State

Germany’s Current Agenda for an Activating Social Assistance

Ifo Economic Policy series

Hans-Werner Sinn, President, Ifo Institute of Economic Research, Professor of Economics and Public Finance and Director, Center for Economic Studies, University of Munich, Germany, Christian Holzner, Wolfgang Meister, Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Wolfgang Ochel, Ifo Institute for Economic Research and CESifo Research Network, Germany and Martin Werding, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

Redesigning the Welfare State argues that the current high level of unemployment in Germany not only creates a major challenge for the German welfare state, but is to a good extent caused by the way the country's welfare system is designed.