Business Interests and the development of the Bismarckian welfare state

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the reforms adopting the main social insurance programs: sickness insurance, work injury insurance, old-age and disability pensions, and unemployment insurance, as well as reforms after 1945 expanding the generosity of old-age pensions. It shows that differences in the impact on work incentives best explain variation in employers’ acceptance of various social programs. With regard to administrative organization of social programs, employers’ positions changed over time: from opponents to strong supporters of corporatism. Opinions within the German business community on the benefits of the work injury insurance and the other social programs were diverse, but the dominant organizations backed the reforms. Social policy reforms in the post-war period can be divided into two distinct periods: the period of the reconstitution of the Bismarckian social insurance programs after the war, and the period of expansion of social programs during the 1950s. A division of labor exists between the various types and levels of business interest associations in Germany.