Social Security in Times of Crisis

The combination of slow economic growth and the effects of accelerating population ageing had a big impact on the social and economic environment. But despite this, in the recent period could be observed that the social security systems best able to manage the crisis’ social and economic impacts were of those countries which had comprehensive social security programmes already in place (Bonnet, Ehmke and Hagemejer, 2010). These programmes not only provided policy-makers with immediate responses to help sustain aggregate demand, but also provided a greater choice of instruments with which to reach out, sometimes selectively, to different population groups at risk.