ABSTRACT
Western European and North American experiences thus suggest that it is particularly difficult to maintain stable budget balances and to keep or even expand the level of public investments. The preference for direct public provision of social services reflected in the Scandinavian pattern where socialist governments have dominated in the postwar period, suggests that a considerable part of their social expenditures is probably hidden under the label of "civil public consumption." The sociopolitical mechanism underlying the disproportionate growth of social expenditures is often explained by the growing political power of the working class, represented by trade unions and labor parties, which have first demanded social security and later income redistribution. The trend in expenditures for old age pensions and survivors' benefits is closely linked to demographic factors such as changes in the age structure, longevity, and mortality rates.
