page_title: Welfare capitalism
section_title: In Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Welfare capitalism / Modern welfare capitalism / In Europe
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Das Volkswagen-Werk in Wolfsburg. English: Volkswagen Wolfsburg industrial plant (Wolfsburg, Germany). Français&#160;: Usine du constructeur automobile Volkswagen AG dans la ville allemande de Wolfsbourg, siège social du groupe.
context_page_description: Welfare capitalism is capitalism that includes social welfare policies. Welfare capitalism is also the practice of businesses providing welfare services to their employees. Welfare capitalism in this second sense, or industrial paternalism, was centered on industries that employed skilled labor and peaked in the mid-20th century.
  Today, welfare capitalism is most often associated with the models of capitalism found in Central Mainland and Northern Europe, such as the Nordic model, social market economy and Rhine capitalism. In some cases welfare capitalism exists within a mixed economy, but welfare states can and do exist independently of policies common to mixed economies such as state interventionism and extensive regulation.
context_section_description: European welfare capitalism is typically endorsed by Christian democrats and social democrats. In contrast to social welfare provisions found in other industrialized countries (especially countries with the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism), European welfare states provide universal services that benefit all citizens (social democratic welfare state) as opposed to a minimalist model that only caters to the needs of the poor.
  In Northern European countries, welfare capitalism is often combined with social corporatism and national-level collective bargaining arrangements aimed at balancing the power between labor and business. The most prominent example of this system is the Nordic model, which features free and open markets with limited regulation, high concentrations of private ownership in industry, and tax-funded universal welfare benefits for all citizens.
  An alternative model of welfare exists in Continental European countries, known as the social market economy or German model, which includes a greater role for government interventionism into the macro-economy but features a less generous welfare state than is found in the Nordic countries.
  In France, the welfare state exists alongside a dirigiste mixed economy.
caption: The Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg
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