社会政策:“欧洲模式”适合中国吗?

Social policies: are “European models”models for China?

从20世纪90年代起,中国对于欧洲社会模式的研究变得更加深入,更加聚焦于个人政策领域,比如医疗、就业、劳动力市场、老龄化问题、养老金制度等,并且也开始考虑如何将欧洲的社会政策应用到中国的实践中。事实上,欧盟是一个福利国家的联盟,不是一个联合的福利国家,社会政策在欧盟是一个松散的相互协调的领域,大致基于成员国之间自愿的合作,而欧盟成员国在社会政策追求上存在差异。欧盟的社会政策对中国有启发意义,但目前欧洲模式自身也存在问题,并且饱受压力,难以持久。中国社会保障体系要立足自身的国情,其主要制约因素在于资金不足、覆盖面不足、地域分割、机构低效等。保持灵活有效的市场经济与充足的社会保障之间的平衡,将依然是中国国内未来几年或者几十年的一项主要挑战。

Since the 1990 s,Chinese scholars havedelved deeper and deeper into the research of social models in Europe.Their studies have focused more on the areas of individual policy,including medical care,employment,labour market,aging issue,pension system,and have started to look at these issues from the perspective of what China could learn from European ways.In fact,the EU is a union of welfare states,not a welfare union. Social policy is a loosely harmonized area in the EU based on more or less voluntary cooperation between member states,whereas a cross-EU welfare payments systemdoes not exist. EU's social policiesare an inspiration for China,but the European models themselves have come under pressure and proved unsustainable lately. China should base its social security system on its own particular circumstances,of which the major constraints are underfinancing,insufficient coverage,geographical fragmentation and inefficient institutions. To attain a balance between a flexible and effective market economy and adequate social security provision remains to be the main internal challenge for China for several years,maybe decades.