A triumph of failed ideas European models of capitalism in ... - Journal

From one crisis to another: the Swedish model in turbulent times revisited.................................................................................................................................................................subsequent employment performance and income development acrossthe life course. Furthermore, an early period of unemployment mayaffect the timing of other critical transitions and events, such as thetransition from school to work and the constitution of an independenthousehold, as well as access to housing, parenthood and fertilitypatterns, career opportunities and wage development (see Anxo et al.2010). Some recent empirical evidence (see Anxo 2011) tends also toshow that we may not rule out either that the current crisis, like thedeep recession of the early 1990s, implies that, in future, a growingshare of Swedish companies will rely increasingly on external numericalflexibility, with a rise in the use of short-term contracts and agencyworkers. If this is the case, this development may worsen the duality inthe labour market between insiders and outsiders, alter the conditionsof entry into the labour market and delay the acquisition of apermanent and stable job. It is also clear that if Sweden fails to reestablishthe conditions for a return to full employment, in particular toreduce unemployment and increase employment rates for some of theabovementioned vulnerable groups, we cannot exclude a progressivedecline of the Swedish model, its coherence and the robustness of itssocial cohesion.ReferencesAnxo, D. (2011) ‘Negotiated Flexibility in Sweden: A More EgalitarianResponse to the Crisis?’, in Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead (ed.) Inequalitiesin the World of Work: The Effects of the Crisis, Cheltenham:Edward Elgar.Anxo, D., G. Bosch and J. Rubery (2010) The Welfare State andLife Transitions: A European Perspective, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Anxo, D. and H. Niklasson (2006) ‘The Swedish Model in TurbulentTimes: Decline or Renaissance?’, International Labour Review,145 (4): 339–71.Eliasson, K. (2008) ‘En arbetslöshetsförsäkring för de som har råd’,Luleå: Luleå tekniska universitet, institutionen för Arbetsvetenskap.Kjellberg, A. (2010) ‘Kollektivsavtal täckningsgrad samt organisationsgradhos arbetgivarförbund och fackförbund’, Working Paper, Lund:Department of Sociology, Lund University.A triumph of failed ideas – European models of capitalism in the crisis 39