解析欧洲福利建设的经验教训

Lessons and Experience in European Welfare Development

欧洲是世界上贫富差距相对较小的地区。从历史上看,战后欧洲建设“福利国家”的过程是以现代化经济发展为基础的,是在工业化和城市化进程的拉动下实现的。随着经济增长速度降低,欧洲各国社会不平等的程度也都有所提高。但是,由于已经有了比较完善的社会再分配理念、制度和政策,欧洲总体而言仍能较好地控制贫富差距扩大的势头。欧洲国家最大的共性是相对而言都属于“小国寡民”。但其战后福利建设过程中的经验教训对我国促进共同富裕仍有可资借鉴之处:一是共同富裕既是现代化的结果,也是现代化的保障;二是在推进共同富裕的过程中,应注意全面调整政策理念;三是推进共同富裕应不断完善税收、社保和转移支付在内的基础性制度安排,灵活运用各种调控手段,强化“橄榄型分配结构”。欧洲“福利国家”的危机提示我们,应严格防范这些制度可能出现的可持续性危机。

Europe is a region where the gap between the rich and the poor is relatively narrow in the world.Historically,the process of pursuing"common prosperity"in Europe is based on modern economic development,and driven by the process of industrialization and urbanization.As the rate of economic growth declined,the level of social inequality increased in all European countries.However,because of the relatively well-developed social redistribution concepts,systems and policies already in place,Europe has generally been able to manage the momentum of the widening gap between the rich and the poor relatively well.The greatest commonality among European countries is that they are relatively small in land size and population.However,there is still some experience to be learned from their process of promoting"common prosperity":First,common prosperity is both the result and the guarantee of modernization.Second,relevant concepts and policies need to be adjusted in the process.Third,to promote common prosperity,we should continuously improve the basic institutional arrangements including taxation,social security and transfer payments,and flexibly use various regulatory instruments to enhance the"olive-shaped distribution structure".The crisis of the European welfare state reminds us that we should strictly guard against the possible sustainability crisis of these systems.