ABSTRACT
In the development of income support, the most fundamental differentiation was that between the social insurance basis adopted in countries of continental Europe and the greater emphasis on need and citizenship in the systems developed in Britain and Scandinavia. The citizenship basis of income support was interpreted more broadly in Scandinavia. This chapter describes provisions for income support to the aged in the six countries: (West) Germany, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, United States and Australia. More clearly than other welfare state functions, income support was a product of industrialisation and politics of class interest and alliance. A variety of explanations have been offered for the late development of American income security. Six countries included in the Luxembourg Income Study data set have been chosen as giving expression to universality and selectivity to various degrees and in the context of larger pension systems of different kinds.
