The genesis of the German social insurance model: history and present

This article examines a complex of problems associated with the formation and the initial stage of development of the German model of social insurance. Initially, three models of such insurance have been proposed, then the main characteristics of the considered model have been highlighted. The article states that the German scientist Adolf Wagner played an outstanding role in the theoretical substantiation of this model. At the same time, the stages of his biography are briefly considered, allowing us to understand why exactly his role was so significant. Further, such important scientific phenomena for the formation of the system of compulsory state social insurance as Wagner's law, the principles of taxation substantiated by him, its use for redistribution of income, etc., are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the activities of the Union of Social Policy, which played an important role in the preparation of regulatory bases of future social transformations. The conclusion is substantiated that the formation of the German model of social insurance was the result of a long evolution of social relations from voluntary insurance at the expense of the workers themselves to optional, then optional-mandatory and, finally, mandatory social insurance based on the relative consensus of the leading social forces: political power, workers and some of the employers.