A comparative analysis of the development of social security systems in Taiwan and five industrial democracies

This dissertation compares the development of the social security system in Taiwan with that of five economically developed countries. In the study it is found that the social security legislation in Taiwan was enacted at a comparatively early stage of industrialization, when the economy was continuously growing and unemployment was continuously decreasing, when there were neither elections nor party politics, and when there was not a labor movement.;At the end of the study it is pointed out that Taiwan's current social security system displays problems of social inadequacy and social inequity. It appears that the government's proposed national health insurance plan fails to cover some high-risk working populations.;Because of the lack of stimulus from the above demand factors, the subsequent development of the Taiwanese social security system was also different from those in most of the Western countries. Taiwan's social security legislation features a strong corporatist arrangement for social control. The social insurance programs benefited state personnel first. The programs covered only economically active populations and excluded farmers in order to stimulate industrialization. The system's emphasis was on health insurance instead of pensions so as to maintain a productive labor force. The expansion of the system in terms of both coverage and expenditures was limited so as to avoid disturbing the functioning of the market economy. A mechanism was built into the old-age insurance program to encourage stable employment despite the inadequacy of benefits.