There's a nice NY Times profile of Dani Rodrik, highlighting the need for social insurance to promote political support for free trade, at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/business/worldbusiness/30trade.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 (login required).
Rodrik, Jacob Hacker and others are quoted on the need for greater social insurance programs. This is similar to the recent burst of enthusiasm for the Danish model: social insurance programs providing the confidence to induce political support for liberalization. Rodrik thinks we've had enough liberalization for now.
