After years of economic development, western developed countries and some developing countries have established their own social security systems and different social security models. According to the characteristics of different social security models and social security systems in western countries, as well as the main influencing factors, and combining with the problems in their development, this paper makes a comparative analysis, which has reference significance for perfecting the social security system in China. I. Types, characteristics and influencing factors of social security model (I) Social security model emphasizing efficiency Some newly industrialized countries and developing countries implement the social security system of savings fund, which is a typical social security model with liberalism as the guiding ideology and emphasizes efficiency. Take Singapore as an example, its central provident fund system requires employers and employees to pay the same amount of insurance premiums (central provident fund) for special purposes. It is characterized by emphasizing self-protection and unified personal savings rather than scattered personal savings; The financing method is mainly compulsory savings; The management organization is concentrated in the Singapore Central Provident Fund Bureau. (II) Social security model that pays attention to fairness The social security model with interventionism as the guiding ideology pays attention to fairness, mainly including welfare state model and self-protection and public assistance model in developed countries. The former is characterized by income redistribution and progressive taxation to make social wealth not concentrated in the hands of a few people; The latter is characterized by the government's legislation on social security as the basis for the implementation of social security. (III) Influencing factors of the choice of social security system mode The choice of social security system mode is restricted by many factors, the main factors of which are composed of three aspects, firstly, the social conditions and economic development level of each country, secondly, the theoretical and ideological background of each country when choosing social security system, and thirdly, the different cultural factors of each country. Second, the comparison of social security systems in western countries We choose several typical types of social security systems in western countries, taking Britain, the United States and Chile as representatives to analyze and compare them. (1) Analysis of British social security system After World War II, the western economy continued to grow at a high speed, but the economic development speed of Britain was relatively slow, and industrial manufacturing retreated from the original number one in the world to the third. The difficulties faced by the British economy are becoming more and more obvious, and the social problems in Britain, especially poverty and unemployment, are becoming more and more serious. This promoted the British government to reform the social security system. The social security system in Britain includes five aspects: national insurance, national health care, individual social welfare, housing and education. Its own characteristics are as follows: first, the integrity of social security projects; Secondly, it penetrated deeply into the family, replacing the traditional family support function to some extent. Therefore, national insurance bears the responsibility of supporting the family for the insured to a certain extent. Thirdly, the principle of universality is the basic criterion for the construction of social security system in post-war Britain. Finally, the government plays a main role in the social security system. The social security system in Britain is run entirely by government agencies and public employees. Although the social security system in many western countries also involves government agencies and public employees, it emphasizes the role of social organizations, such as some fund management institutions, trade unions and various associations, which play a greater role in social security management. Within the institutionalized security system, British social organizations have little effect. British national insurance is directly managed by the government and has become a huge department of the government. (II) Analysis of American Social Security System Keynesianism played a decisive role in the establishment of American social security system. The world economic crisis from 1929 to 1933 dealt a severe blow to the United States and changed the traditional view that poverty stems from laziness for a long time. The Social Security Act of 1935 had a far-reaching impact on the establishment of the American social security system. After World War II, the continuous development of American economy laid a good material foundation for the perfection and development of social security system, and the rapid development of social economy provided a reliable source of funds for the American government to increase the types of social insurance, expand the scope of protection and improve the payment standard. The security system in the broad sense of the United States consists of two parts: social insurance and social welfare. The social insurance system mainly includes narrow social security items (old-age insurance, widow's insurance and disability insurance), medical insurance system and unemployment insurance system. Like western European countries, employers and employees in the United States must pay social insurance tax to enjoy social insurance payment. Social welfare is completely dependent on public expenditure, and recipients do not have to pay taxes for it, but applicants must pass the government's "livelihood review" to receive welfare, which is equivalent to "social relief" in Western Europe. The main characteristics of American social security system are: firstly, the inherent tendency of marketization and socialization. While continuing to implement the traditional social security policy, the original way of providing social security has been greatly changed. It not only restrains the historical tendency of the federal government to assume more social security responsibilities, but also opens the way for the social security system to change to the market-oriented and socialized direction, thus forming a unique "market-oriented and socialized social security model". Secondly, the pluralistic system of social security management and operation. Public and private considerations, federal, state and local governments, non-profit organizations and profit organizations. Thirdly, the multi-level nature of American social security programs. This multi-level nature is mainly manifested in the structure, form and type of the project. Finally, the multi-channel nature of social security fund raising. This is manifested in the following aspects: the funds provided by the federal government play the role of the main channel; The taxes collected by the government from employers and the welfare funds provided by business owners for employees have become important sources of funds for social security projects; Various communities and social welfare organizations have also provided some funds for social security for different interest groups; Private individuals provide social insurance funds by paying insurance taxes and providing specific insurance projects. In addition, charitable donations from some people also play a great role. (III) Analysis of Chile's Social Security System The privatization reform of Chile's social security system in the 197s was deeply influenced by the neo-liberal theory. In terms of social policy, it advocates transferring social welfare undertakings that can be put on the market to private operation and changing the practice of holding all social welfare by the state. In addition, Chile's reform is also greatly influenced by American conservatism. At the end of 1973, Pinochet's military government came to power and began to implement liberalized economic reforms. Pinochet's military government basically represents the interests of the middle class politically and advocates privatization economically. From the end of 197s, Pinochet's military government began to implement a comprehensive economic reform policy of liberalization, and the privatization management of social security system was one of the main contents of this radical reform. During 1971-1973, Allende's government carried out nationalization measures, which seriously damaged the political and economic interests of Chile's middle class, triggered a series of political contradictions, and also led to a sharp decline in economic efficiency: from 1971 to 1973, the average annual inflation rate in Chile was as high as 295.9%, the average annual economic growth rate dropped to 1.2%, the proportion of fiscal deficit to GDP rose to 11.5%, and the economy. Chile's social security system consists of three parts: social welfare plan, medical insurance system and pension system, in which the pension system (including social insurance for the disabled and survivors) and medical insurance system were established after major reforms to the original old system. Taking the pension system as an example, its characteristics are as follows: firstly, individual pension savings are capitalized. During an individual's employment, a certain percentage of his salary is deposited into his personal account every month as capital, which is invested by the pension fund management institution, so that the fund continues to increase in value. The amount of personal pension depends on personal savings during the period of employment. Secondly, pension funds are managed by private institutions. Thirdly, the competition mechanism is introduced into the social insurance sector. Pension fund management companies attract more policyholders by improving investment profit rate and service level. At present, the eight management companies were formed through reorganization and merger on the basis of more than 2 previous companies, and nearly 7% of the insured chose three of them. Based on the above analysis, we summarize the analysis into Table 1 (see Table 1). Table 1 Comparison of theoretical systems of social security systems in various countries: Suitable conditions and characteristic defects represent that newly industrialized countries and developing countries with national liberal savings funds emphasize self-protection, the financing method is mainly compulsory savings, and the government's financial burden is heavy due to standardized and institutionalized management, which reduces competitiveness. Singapore and Chile have developed interventionist welfare-oriented economies and improved social and material living standards. It is not conducive to the sustainable development of the economy. Britain and Nordic countries, self-protection and public assistance industrialized countries or countries with strong economic foundation provide basic economic security for social members. The high cost of enterprises is not conducive to competition. The enlightenment of German, Western European, American and Japanese social security systems to China has advantages and disadvantages. China should choose a social security model suitable for China's national conditions according to the current economic and social environment to meet the basic needs of the people, ensure social stability and promote long-term sustainable economic development. Throughout the development of social security system in the world, they all attach great importance to the legalization of social security system in the early stage of development. Under the strict legal system, the smooth implementation of social security measures can be guaranteed, which not only improves the stability of the system, but also helps to restrain the behavior of all parties. Although a series of measures, rules and decisions have been issued in the process of social security system reform in China, there is still no complete legislation on social security, which makes many problems in actual operation unable to find legal basis for solution, which is a weakness in the reform of social security system in China. For this problem, we can gradually establish the legislation of specific laws and regulations, and establish the basic law of social security when conditions are ripe. At the same time, it is also necessary to ensure that relevant laws and regulations can be effectively implemented. First of all, the social security system is based on the potential conflict between efficiency and fairness goals and market failure. The establishment of social security system is to meet the needs of the public for social and economic development in many aspects, not just to protect the needs of marginal groups; The scope of welfare tolerance is far from being satisfied by economic growth and material interests, but it is a synthesis of various human interests, including material interests; Because of all kinds of market failures, it is even difficult for the market system without intervention to achieve the goal of efficiency, not to mention social equity and other goals of human concern. Therefore, government intervention is essential to correct the social functions and goals that the market cannot achieve through intervention. Fairness and efficiency are two different and related goals in the design of social security system. Here, fairness is not only the fairness of income distribution, but also the fairness of sharing the fruits of social progress, the fairness between sexes, the fairness between the strong and the weak, and the fairness between generations; Efficiency not only refers to stimulating people's enthusiasm for hard work and innovation, but also refers to the enthusiasm of enterprises to continuously improve operating efficiency, and also refers to the effective allocation of social resources and the effective operation of the whole economy. In different countries or different development periods of the same country, the degree of fairness and efficiency will be different. When inefficiency becomes the main factor restricting economic development, the main goal should be to pursue efficiency growth; When the imbalance of fairness forms a restrictive force that hinders economic growth, the main goal of promoting growth should be to adjust the fair relationship. Through the development of social security thought, we can find that those who attach importance to economic efficiency emphasize liberalism and rely on market forces; Those who attach importance to social fairness advocate expanding government intervention and correcting the deviation from the goal of fairness through redistribution. Secondly, the choice of social security mode is restricted by values and economic development level. Values mainly depend on the government's judgment on the importance of different development goals and the analysis of social welfare content, and are also influenced by a country's social and cultural factors. The level of economic development determines the level and scope of a country's public welfare goals. Thirdly, the design of social security system should well define the responsibility sharing relationship of social security objectives at all levels. Due to the different nature of social security objectives (social security services) at all levels, the division of responsibilities of the undertakers of different types of social security projects is also different. Some can introduce market mechanisms (such as medical security and old-age security), while others can only be provided by the government (such as social relief security services); For example, the old-age security to maintain the ordinary standard of living and the old-age security to pursue a higher quality of life. The government's social security responsibility is very important, but if we don't pay attention to letting enterprises and individuals bear the corresponding obligations or responsibilities in the system design, even the social security plans in economically developed countries will collapse. Since 197s, the rise of multi-pillar model is a correction to the mistakes of previous system design. An effective social security system is not only a system that meets the goals of fairness and efficiency, but also a system with vitality. Fourthly, in the aspect of old-age security, although it is in line with the principle of efficiency to change from pay-as-you-go system to partial accumulation system, there are obvious transition costs and will bring different benefits to different groups. At present, China is transforming from pay-as-you-go system to multi-pillar mode, but there are still many problems to be solved urgently. These problems include: the operation of empty personal accounts, the standardization and institutionalization of social security system, etc. The government will play an important role in solving such hidden problems.
Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is better, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.