Mikko Kautto and Matti Heikkilä, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Finland. Bjørn Hvinden, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. Staffan Marklund, University of Umeå, Sweden. Niels Ploug, Centre for Welfare State Research, The Danish National Institute of Social Research. Denmark.

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• 1 Introduction: the Nordic welfare states in the 1990s 2 Economic problems, welfare convergence and political instability 3 Changes in age structure, family stability and dependency 4 Cuts in and reform of the Nordic cash benefit systems 5 Universal public social care and health services? 6 Activation policies in the Nordic countries 7 Changes in the social patterning of living conditions 8 Poverty and social exclusion in the Nordic countries 9 The distribution of income in the Nordic countries: changes and causes10 The legitimacy of the Nordic welfare states: trends, variations and cleavages 11 Conclusion: The Nordic model stands stable but on shaky ground