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On the convergence of social protection systems in the European Union
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Abstract
Member states of the European Union are autonomous when it comes to the design of their social protection systems. However, they are committed by a Recommendation accepted by the European Council addressing the convergence of social protection objectives and policies. Beside that, it is expected that convergence of social protection systems could come about as a result of economic integration. In this paper we have examined whether such convergence has occurred during the past decades, using data on replacement rates and social expenditure ratios. We find a rather strong trend of relative convergence, but it does not follow that this trend is the result of the European integration.Social protection, European Union