Welfare state regimes and income-related health inequalities: a comparison of 23 European countries

As from the beginning of the 1990s, almost all European countries have introduced wide-reaching social changes, among others in eligibility, entitlement, benefits structures and in the sources of financing. In this article, we propose that a consequence of those reforms may have been a repositioning of some countries in the welfare clusters. To test this hypothesis, we apply the two bi-dimensional classifications of Bonoli (1997) and Kautto (2002) to ten countries as representative of different welfare regimes. Our results reveal an interesting repositioning of some countries, especially Portugal, the UK and Sweden that represents evidence of welfare state reforms.

Download Full-text

Welfare state regimes, health and health inequalities in adolescence: a multilevel study in 32 countries

Sociology of Health & Illness ◽

10.1111/j.1467-9566.2011.01433.x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 34 (6) ◽

pp. 858-879 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Matthias Richter ◽

Katharina Rathman ◽

Saoirse Nic Gabhainn ◽

Alessio Zambon ◽

William Boyce ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

Health Inequalities ◽

Multilevel Study ◽

Welfare State Regimes ◽

Health And Health Inequalities

Download Full-text

Welfare State Regime Life Courses: The Development of Western European Welfare State Regimes and Age-Related Patterns of Educational Inequalities in Self-Reported Health

International Journal of Health Services ◽

10.2190/hs.40.3.b ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 399-420 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Clare Bambra ◽

Gopalakrishnan Netuveli ◽

Terje A. Eikemo

Keyword(s):

Welfare State ◽

Health Inequalities ◽

Age Groups ◽

Educational Inequalities ◽

Inequalities In Health ◽

Age Related ◽

State Regime ◽

Reported Health ◽

Life Courses ◽

Welfare State Regimes

This article uses data from three waves of the European Social Survey (2002, 2004, 2006) to compare educational inequalities in self-reported health (good vs. bad) and limiting longstanding illness in six age groups based on decade of birth (1930s–1980s) in 17 countries, categorized into four welfare state regimes (Anglo-Saxon, Bismarckian, Scandinavian, Southern). The authors hypothesized that health inequalities in these age groups would vary because of their different welfare state experiences—welfare state regime life courses—both temporally, in terms of different phases of welfare state development (inequalities smaller among older people), and spatially, in terms of welfare state regime type (inequalities smaller among older Scandinavians). The findings are that inequalities in health tended to increase, not decrease, with age. Similarly, inequalities in health were not smallest in the Scandinavian regime or among the older Scandinavian cohorts. In keeping with the rest of the literature, the Bismarckian and Southern regimes had smaller educational inequalities in health. Longitudinal analysis that integrates wider public health factors or makes smaller comparisons may be a more productive way of analyzing cross-national variations in health inequalities and their relationship to welfare state life courses.

Download Full-text