Great Recession, great regression? The welfare state in the twenty-first century

Abstract Has the welfare state undergone significant retrenchment in the aftermath of the 2007–08 crackdown? In the literature, two contrasting views can be found. Some commentators argue that expansions that would otherwise be observed during crises have been suffocated due to the imperative of austerity. Other more optimistic assessments see social investment policies as having been experimented with in various places, alongside widespread retrenchment. In this paper, using an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) database for 35 countries, we check these assessments by examining aggregate figures, such as the evolution—over the 2007–13 period—of social spending and its composition, the participation of social spending in public expenditure, the tax burden and tax composition and welfare state effectiveness. We document expansion in the OECD area alongside stable performance. However, important challenges persist.

Compensation or Social Investment? Revisiting the Link between Globalisation and Popular Demand for the Welfare State

10.1017/s0047279418000569 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 (03) ◽

pp. 427-448 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

MARIUS R. BUSEMEYER ◽

JULIAN L. GARRITZMANN

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

Empirical Support ◽

Welfare States ◽

Social Investment ◽

Investment Policies ◽

Compensation Theory ◽

Analytical Perspective ◽

Knowledge Economies ◽

Investment Function ◽

AbstractThe debate on effects of globalisation on welfare states is extensive. Often couched in terms of a battle between the compensation and the efficiency theses, the scholarly literature has provided contradictory arguments and findings. This article contributes to the scholarly debate by exploring in greater detail the micro-level foundations of compensation theory. More specifically, we distinguish between individual policy preferences for compensatory social policies (unemployment insurance) and human capital-focused social investment policies (education), and expect globalisation to mainly affect demand for educational investment. A multi-level analysis of International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) survey data provides empirical support for this hypothesis. This finding provides an important revision and extension of the classical analytical perspective of compensation theory, because it shows that citizens value the social investment function of the welfare state above and beyond simple compensation via social transfers. This might be particularly relevant in today's skill-centred knowledge economies.

De-universalization and Selective Social Investment in Scandinavia?

10.1093/oso/9780198790488.003.0019 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kees van Kersbergen ◽

Jonas Kraft

Keyword(s):

Middle Class ◽

Welfare State ◽

Turning Point ◽

Decisive Role ◽

Welfare States ◽

Social Investment ◽

Class Politics ◽

Investment Policies ◽

The Poor ◽

The Scandinavian welfare states are at a critical turning point. Their future depends on the extent to which universalism continues to be the principle of social policy. Middle-class politics plays a decisive role in determining welfare state principles and outcomes. The surprising development is that, while the welfare state remains popular, reforms have made it much less universal than it used to be. Programmes aimed particularly at the poor and disadvantaged have been cut, while programmes particularly enjoyed by the middle class have been expanded. Such de-universalization and ‘selective social investments’ were neither expected nor can they be easily explained by the conventional wisdom on the Scandinavian welfare states. Why does this happen? Is the middle class abandoning universalism? How are social investment policies affected?

Social Investment and Poverty Reduction: A Comparative Analysis across Fifteen European Countries

10.1017/s0047279415000070 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 44 (3) ◽

pp. 611-638 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

OLAF VAN VLIET ◽

CHEN WANG

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

Poverty Reduction ◽

Detrimental Effect ◽

European Countries ◽

Social Investment ◽

Investment Policies ◽

The Social ◽

Employment Rates ◽

And Shifts ◽

AbstractDespite the fact that employment rates have increased in many European countries since the beginning of the 2000s, poverty rates have stagnated and in some countries even increased. In the welfare state literature, it has been argued that these disappointing poverty trends may be partly attributable to the reforming of traditional welfare state programmes into social investment policies, because the latter are less redistributive. To date, there are only a few systematic comparative empirical analyses which focus on the outcomes of social investment policies. This paper contributes to the social investment literature by empirically analysing the distributional effects of shifts from traditional welfare state arrangements to social investment policies in fifteen European countries for the period 1997–2007. Our results suggest that the detrimental effect of social investment policies, described in some specific cases in the literature, cannot be generalised across a larger group of European countries. However, for European countries other than the Nordic countries, the results provide some evidence for a linkage between stagnating or increasing poverty trends and shifts in expenditures to new welfare state programmes.

A Social Investment Turn in East Asia?

10.1093/oso/9780198790488.003.0024 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Timo Fleckenstein ◽

Soohyun Christine Lee

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

East Asia ◽

Family Policy ◽

Welfare States ◽

Low Fertility ◽

Female Employment ◽

Industrial Workers ◽

Social Investment ◽

Investment Policies ◽

Employment Participation

The welfare states of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan were built by conservative elites to serve the project of late industrialization, and for this reason the East Asian developmental welfare state focused its resources on those who were deemed most important for economic development (especially male industrial workers). Starting in the 1990s and increasingly since the 2000s, the developmental welfare state has experienced a far-reaching transformation, including the expansion of family policy to address the post-industrial challenges of female employment participation and low fertility. This chapter assesses social investment policies in East Asia, with a focus on family policy and on the South Korean case, where the most comprehensive rise of social investment policies were observed.

The Truncated German Social Investment Turn

10.1093/oso/9780198790488.003.0020 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Seeleib-Kaiser

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

Social Protection ◽

Family Policy ◽

First Century ◽

Social Investment ◽

Political Determinants ◽

The Social ◽

State Regime ◽

Policy Transformations ◽

Veto Points

Traditionally Germany has been categorized as the archetypical conservative welfare state, a categorization not systematically questioned in much of the comparative welfare state regime literature. For many scholars Germany was largely stuck and unable to reform its coordinated market economy and welfare state arrangements at the turn of the twenty-first century, due to a large number of veto points and players and the dominance of two ‘welfare state parties’. More recent research has highlighted a widening and deepening of the historically institutionalized social protection dualism, whilst at the same time significant family policy transformations, which can be considered as partially in line with the social investment paradigm, have been emphasized. This chapter sets out to sketch the main policy developments and aims to identify political determinants of social policy change in Germany.

Social Investment, Employment and Policy and Institutional Complementarities: A Comparative Analysis across 26 OECD Countries

10.1017/s0047279421000386 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-23

Author(s):

VINCENT BAKKER ◽

OLAF VAN VLIET

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

Positive Association ◽

Oecd Countries ◽

Employment Outcomes ◽

Social Investment ◽

Investment Policies ◽

Employment Rates ◽

Marginal Returns ◽

Welfare State Regimes

Abstract Raising employment has been at the heart of EU strategies for over twenty years. Social investment, by now a widely debated topic in the comparative welfare state literature, has been suggested as a way to pursue this. However, there are only a couple of systematic comparative analyses that focus on the employment outcomes associated with social investment. Analyses of the interdependence of these policies with regard to their outcomes are even more scarce. We empirically analyse the extent to which variation in employment rates within 26 OECD countries over the period 1990-2010 can be explained by effort on five social investment policies. We additionally explore the role of policy and institutional complementarities. Using time-series cross-section analyses we find robust evidence for a positive association between effort on ALMPs and employment rates. For other policies we obtain mixed results. ALMPs are the only policies for which we observe signs of policy interdependence, which point at diminishing marginal returns. Additionally, our analysis demonstrates that the interdependence of social investment policies varies across welfare state regimes. Together, this indicates that the employment outcomes of social investment policies are also contingent on the broader framework of welfare state policies and institutions.

Social Investment, Redistribution or Basic Income? Exploring the Association Between Automation Risk and Welfare State Attitudes in Europe

10.1017/s0047279421000519 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

MARIUS R. BUSEMEYER ◽

ALEXANDER H. J. SAHM

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

Technological Change ◽

European Social Survey ◽

Welfare States ◽

Basic Income ◽

Social Investment ◽

Market Outcomes ◽

Social Survey ◽

Investment Policies ◽

Using Data

Abstract Rapid technological change – the digitalization and automation of work – is challenging contemporary welfare states. Most of the existing research, however, focuses on its effect on labor market outcomes, such as employment or wage levels. In contrast, this paper studies the implications of technological change for welfare state attitudes and preferences. Compared to previous work on this topic, this paper adopts a much broader perspective regarding different kinds of social policy. Using data from the European Social Survey, we find that individual automation risk is positively associated with support for redistribution, but negatively with support for social investment policies (partly depending on the specific measure of automation risk that is used), while there is no statistically significant association with support for basic income. We also find a moderating effect of the overall size of the welfare state on the micro-level association between risk and preferences.

REGULATIONS IN THE SOCIAL WELFARE STATE: NORDIC COUNTRIES AND TURKEY EXAMPLE

European Journal of Social Sciences Studies ◽

10.46827/ejsss.v6i3.1038 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Nagihan Ozkanca Andic ◽

Ekrem Karayilmazlar

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

Social Welfare ◽

Public Expenditure ◽

Nordic Countries ◽

Data Envelopment ◽

Analysis Method ◽

Political Factors ◽

The Public ◽

The Social ◽

The Public Expenditure/GDP ratio is one of the most significant metrics that measure the state's share of the economy. It can be said that there is an interventionist state type in countries where this rate is high, or it can be argued that the share of the public sector in the economy is low in countries where this rate is low. It is also possible to argue that the countries' economic, sociological, and political factors play an essential role in determining this ratio. Regulations, which are the most important tools of the welfare state, may arise through economic controls as well as through social policies. This study aims to find an answer to the question of whether this situation is possible for a developing country such as Turkey while Nordic countries, which determine a system different from other welfare models, succeed in raising social welfare without giving up the principles such as equality and justice that they have despite the globalization effect. The data obtained by various methods were subjected to comparison using the Data Envelopment Analysis method in order to achieve this purpose. Article visualizations:<img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0777/a.php" alt="Hit counter" />

Who Loves the Swedish Welfare State? Attitude Trends 1980–2010

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199665679.013.2 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Stefan Svallfors

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

Willingness To Pay ◽

Task Performance ◽

Public Support ◽

Large Degree ◽

Social Spending ◽

Public Organization ◽

Welfare Policies ◽

Degree Of Stability ◽

Attitudes toward social spending, collective financing, and public organization, willingness to pay taxes, suspicion about welfare abuse, and trust in the task performance of the welfare state show a large degree of stability in Sweden, and where change is registered, it tends to go in the direction of increasing support. More people state their willingness to pay higher taxes for welfare policy purposes; more people want collective financing of welfare policies; and fewer people perceive extensive welfare abuse. Class patterns change so that the salaried and the self-employed become more similar to workers in their attitudes. Hence, no attitudinal corrosive effects from increased marketization of the Swedish welfare state can be detected on public support for welfare policies.

Rethinking Democracy?

Equality, Freedom, and Democracy ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198813873.003.0009 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 237-246

Author(s):

Leonardo Morlino

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Welfare State ◽

First Century ◽

Close Connection ◽

Social Cooperation ◽

Early Twenty ◽

Right To Vote ◽

The Right ◽

Almost All ◽

This chapter addresses two final questions. First, what are the specific and more general perspectives of the democracies we studied in terms of implementation of the two democratic values? The three patterns developed in Chapter 8 cover almost all the existing empirical possibilities in Europe. Moreover, the external challenges faced by democracies in the early twenty-first century directly affect not only the goods to be delivered (possibly a mix of freedoms and equalities) but also resilience and de-consolidation. We can accept action in defence of rights and institutions and the limits of protest lie in the fact that the related actions cannot violate existing laws. A parallel question is how much the repeal of constraints, legal or of another sort, on the incumbent authorities can be pushed. No doubt, interinstitutional accountability is the necessary cornerstone of a working democracy. Second, what could we do to promote a better, doable, reasonable implementation of the two values? The formula of pursuing broader social cooperation would recall neo-corporatist past solutions, today unfeasible, but still appears as the right social recipe that has not yet been overcome. As seen in Chapter 8, we have to restate that there is a close connection between interinstitutional accountability and protection of freedoms, and, although indirectly, of equalities. Among the rights, the most important one in a democracy is the right to vote, which is grounded on other freedoms that concur to form the voter’s own political opinion. The commitment to combat different forms of disinformation needs to continue in order to provide further meaningfulness to the right to vote. Finally, to craft solid majorities in favour of the strengthening of the welfare state beyond the protection of poverty, we do need to promote a European Union able to complement national and European solidarities.