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Exit Polder Model? Socioeconomic Changes in the Netherlands
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Lei Delsen
Book Code: C7700
ISBN: 0-275-97700-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-97700-9
240 pages, figures, tables
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 12/30/2002
List Price: $103.95 (UK Sterling Price: £59.95)
Availability: Out of stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • [P]resents a very convincing and clear picture of the internal inconsistencies of the polder-model policies....[D]elsen has built an elegant and concise theoretical model.
    —Governance     October 2004
  • Endorsement From Gosta Esping-Andersen
    Professor of Political and Social Science
    University Pompeu Fabra
    Barcelona, Spain:     Delsen's book comes to the aid of all of us who call for a measured and cool-headed assessment of the pros and cons of the Polder model. Delsen provides an unusually well-written and balanced portrait of what the model really is--and is not. This book ought to be required reading for all those fans (and foes) of the Dutch Miracle.
  • Endorsement From Dr. Hans Keman
    Editor-in-Chief, European Journal of Political Research
    and Chair, Political Science
    Free University of Amsterdam:     ...one of the most important books written on the analysis of socio-economic policy-making in the Netherlands.
  • Endorsement From Eileen Appelbaum
    Rutgers University:     Delson provides a microeconomic analysis of the Polder Model, including its dark underside of rising inequality and social exclusion. While not everyone will agree with Delsen's prescriptions for addressing these problems, this stimulating book belongs on the reading list of researchers and policymakers everywhere who are trying to reconcile welfare and work and to provide every person with access to a basic income and a right to a job.
Description: To what does the Netherlands owe their recent economic success? Will the polder model become the victim of its own success or will the threat come mainly from outside? In the Netherlands, polder are small communities hemmed in by dykes built to resist quickly rising tides, and hence imply communal effort to mediate harmful outside forces. Translated into economic terms, the polder model entailed tripartite cooperation between business, government, and labor to protect the nation's economic and social well being. Delsen evaluates recent changes in the Dutch economy brought on by globalization and American dominance and concludes that the polder model is reaching its end. Delsen argues that the market forces introduced by the purple governments imply a far-reaching adaptation of the unique Dutch economic order. The primacy of the market has resulted in a more flexible labor market, decentralization of the wage formation, modernization of the social security system, more competition on the goods markets, and liberalization and competition in the financial markets. More market forces within Dutch socioeconomic relations imply also that the aims of trade and industry have changed, and have become oriented toward short-term results and away from actions aimed at long-term continuity and consensus.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • Successes of the Polder Economy
  • Shadow Sides of the Polder Model
  • Flexibility in Dutch Labor Organizations
  • Cost and Benefit of the Consultation Economy
  • The Dutch Welfare State
  • The Dutch Pension Scheme
  • Does the Polder Model Have a Future?
  • Bibliography
  • Index
LC Card Number: 200206746
LCC Class: HC325
Dewey Class: 330
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