Globalization

2021 ◽  
pp. 432-450
Author(s):  
Duane Swank
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
National Welfare ◽  
Political Economic

This chapter examines the theory and research on the historical and contemporary impacts of economic globalization on trajectories of national welfare states across the globe. It reviews the central contending theories that globalization’s social policy impacts are negative (the efficiency thesis) or positive (the compensation thesis). It also summarizes various contingency arguments such as the idea that globalization’s impacts are conditioned by national political economic institutions. As to extant research, it surveys comparative, quantitative studies on social impacts of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century ‘first wave’ of globalization and of contemporary internationalization of markets in developed and developing political economies. The central findings of work on developed democracies are that during the first wave of globalization, and in the three decades after the Second World War, globalization was associated with increases in social protection against risks and transfers to losers of international competition (the compensation thesis); for recent decades, scholars lean towards the view that globalization is associated with modest retrenchments in social welfare provision. Substantial evidence also exists for the notion that these effects are contingent on domestic institutions. For developing nations, many studies show that international openness has been associated with cuts in core social insurance and welfare programmes and with increases in (or no effect on) education and health programmes. Studies also suggest that globalization’s social impacts are contingent on temporal context and domestic institutions. The chapter concludes with a discussion of promising new areas of inquiry on globalization and national welfare states in the twenty-first century.

The South European Countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 843-862
Author(s):  
Maurizio Ferrera
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
State Building ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Employment Opportunities

In Southern Europe, welfare state building followed a distinct path, characterized by ‘weak Fordism’ in labour markets, a dualistic social insurance, and a faulty and fragmented safety net. The (extended) family thus played a key role as welfare and income provider for its members, penalizing women’s autonomy and employment opportunities. The 1990s and 2000s witnessed substantial efforts to modernize both labour markets and social protection schemes, by recalibrating their coverage both across risks and social groups. However, the economic crisis of the 2010s halted such recalibration and the gap with Europe’s more developed welfare states has again started to widen, especially in Italy and Greece.

scholarly journals Changing Systems of Social Protection in the Context of the Changing Political Economies since the 1980s

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 2085-2094 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyne Huber ◽  
Sara Niedzwiecki
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Context ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
Aging Populations ◽  
Veto Points ◽  
Social Europe ◽  
The Welfare State

Abstract This article provides an overview of the profound changes in the more advanced welfare states in Europe and Latin America over the past 35 years. Deindustrialization, informalization, and the rise of unstable employment, combined with aging populations rendered traditional employment-based models of social protection less effective and at the same time increased demands on the welfare state. The two main responses to these challenges were efforts at cost containment and inclusion in non-contributory social protection schemes and health services of those in marginal labor market positions. The mix of these two responses and the depth of the changes were shaped by the intensity of the economic and demographic pressures, policy legacies, the partisan preferences of governing parties and coalitional constraints, the strength of groups in civil society, the presence of veto points in the political system, and in Latin America the process of democratization, along with the international context. A broad comparison between Latin America and Europe highlights the importance of the international context in the form of a relentless pursuit of neoliberal models by the International Financial Institutions in Latin America in contrast to the model of Social Europe promoted by the European Union.

Assessing Welfare State Change: The German Social Insurance State between Reciprocity and Solidarity

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigrid Leitner ◽  
Stephan Lessenich
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
State Change ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Social Policy Reform ◽  
National Welfare ◽  
Different Dimensions

The analytic framework used here to study welfare state change builds upon the distinction of two fundamentally opposed logics of social exchange: the logic of reciprocity and of solidarity. The approach enables to assess the complexity and ambivalence of policy change in advanced welfare states. Using recent social policy reform in Germany as an illustration of the analytical capacity of our approach, it is shown that change can be detected in two different dimensions. One type of change is in the overall mix between reciprocity-based insurance and solidarity-based assistance programmes which makes up the specific profile of a national welfare regime. Another type is in the balance between elements of reciprocity and solidarity within social insurance schemes. This approach can be replicated with any of the developed welfare states of the OECD world.

scholarly journals The Age-Orientation of Social Policy Regimes in OECD Countries

2001 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIA LYNCH
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Demographic Structure ◽  
Policy Regimes ◽  
Education And Health

This article presents a series of measures of the extent to which social policies in twenty-one OECD countries are oriented towards the support of elderly (over 65 or in formal retirement) and non-elderly (under 65 and not retired) population groups. Employing breakdowns by age in spending on social insurance, education and health, tax expenditures on welfare substituting goods, and housing policy outcomes, this article shows that countries tend to demonstrate a consistent age-orientation across a variety of policy areas and instruments. After correcting for the demographic structure of the population, Greece, Japan, Italy, Spain and the United States have the most elderly-oriented social policy regimes, while the Netherlands, Ireland, Canada and the Nordic countries have a more age-neutral repertoire of social policies. In identifying the age-orientation of social policy as a dimension of distributive politics that is not captured by other welfare state typologies, this article suggests the need to develop new accounts of the development of welfare states that include the dimension of age.

The coming of East and South-East Asian welfare states

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Olsson Hort ◽  
Stein Kuhnle
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Rapid Economic Growth ◽  
State Welfare ◽  
Recent Financial Crisis

It has long been assumed among Western commentators that rapid economic growth in East and South-east Asia has been achieved without the development of social policies. It has often been inferred that growth without social welfare is not only possible, but beneficial to further strong economic growth. The article questions these perceptions and beliefs. First, to what extent did East and South-east Asian countries delay the introduction of social insurance schemes compared to European pioneering countries, in the sense of introducing them only at a much higher level of 'modernization'? Second, to what extent was the economic miracle achieved by some of these countries based on (or accompanied by) attempts to forestall or retrench welfare state schemes? Third, to what extent has the recent financial crisis led to attempts at lowering or changing standards of social protection? The study shows that the Asian countries generally introduced social security programmes at a lower level of 'modernization' than Western European countries; that rapid and strong economic growth in the decade 1985–95 has in general been accompanied by welfare expansion; and that even after the financial crisis of 1997, expansion of state welfare responsibility is more evident than efforts to reduce or dismantle state welfare responsibility]

Contrasting approaches to old-age income protection in Korea and Taiwan

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1135-1152 ◽  
Author(s):  
YOUNG JUN CHOI ◽  
JIN WOOK KIM
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Older People ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Income Security ◽  
Flat Rate

ABSTRACTOld-age income security has become one of the most important social policy issues in two East Asian emerging welfare states, South Korea and Taiwan, as they transform at a remarkable pace into societies with a representation of older people approaching that of western countries. During the last two decades, the two countries have developed different forms of social protection for older people. South Korea has expanded social insurance pensions with means-tested benefits, whereas Taiwan has introduced flat-rate old-age allowance programmes that exclude the rich rather than target the poor. much has been written about these programmes, but their actual performance in reducing old-age poverty has not been thoroughly examined. This paper analyses the anti-poverty effect of these programmes, firstly by describing recent developments in the two countries, and secondly by examining headcount poverty rates and the size and incidence of the ‘poverty gap’ using nationally-representative micro-household datasets. We argue that while the programmes have increasingly reduced old-age income security, the different policy choices have resulted in distinctive welfare outcomes in the two countries. In the final section of the article, we discuss the long-term implications of the recent policy reforms.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Pestieau ◽  
Mathieu Lefebvre
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Equity And Efficiency ◽  
Pure Altruism ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
European Welfare States

This introduction is devoted to the definition of the concepts of a welfare state, social protection, and social insurance, and to the different foundations, both normative and positive, underlying them. These foundations range from pure individualistic motivations to the Kantian norm, to pure altruism. This introduction discusses also the traditional trade-off between equity and efficiency that is the main concern when designing social programs. It also presents the issues to be covered throughout the fifteen chapters of the book. Finally, it concludes with what can be viewed as the main challenge of European welfare states, namely the mounting socio-economic divide.

scholarly journals Public attitudes towards a European minimum income benefit: How (perceived) welfare state performance and expectations shape popular support

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 404-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Baute ◽  
Bart Meuleman
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Policy Proposal ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
National Welfare

The economic crisis and the unequal degree to which it has affected European Union (EU) member states have fuelled the debate on whether the EU should take responsibility for the living standards of European citizens. The current article contributes to this debate by investigating for the first time public support for an EU-wide minimum income benefit scheme. Through an analysis of data from the European Social Survey 2016, our results reveal that diverging national experiences and expectations are crucial in understanding why Europeans are widely divided on the implementation of such a benefit scheme. The analysis shows that (1) welfare state generosity and perceived welfare state performance dampen support, (2) those expecting that ‘more Europe’ will increase social protection levels are much more supportive, (3) the stronger support for a European minimum income benefit in less generous welfare states is explained by more optimistic expectations about the EU’s domestic impact and (4) lower socioeconomic status groups are more supportive of this policy proposal. These findings can be interpreted in terms of sociotropic and egocentric self-interests, and illustrate how (perceived) performance of the national welfare state and expectations about the EU’s impact on social protection levels shape support for supranational social policymaking.

scholarly journals The Inclusiveness of Maternity Leave Rights over 120 Years and across Five Continents

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-287
Author(s):  
Keonhi Son ◽  
Tobias Böger
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Political Empowerment ◽  
Informal Labor ◽  
Maternity Benefits ◽  
Historical Database ◽  
Historical Accounts

Even though paid maternity leave was the earliest form of social protection specifically aimed at women workers and is fundamental in securing their economic independence vis-à-vis employers and spouses, it has received scant scholarly attention. Neither the traditional historical accounts of welfare state emergence nor the more recent gendered analyses of developed welfare states have provided comparative accounts of its beginnings and trajectories. Employing the newly created historical database of maternity leave, we provide the first global and historical perspective on paid maternity leave policies covering 157 countries from the 1880s to 2018. Focusing on eligibility rather than generosity, we construct a measure of inclusiveness of paid maternity leaves to highlight how paid maternity leave has shaped not only gender but also social inequality, which has, until recently, largely been ignored by the literature on leave policies. The analyses of coverage expansion by sector and the development of eligibility rules reveal how paid maternity leave has historically stratified women workers by occupation and labor market position but is slowly evolving into a more universal social right across a broad range of countries. Potential drivers for this development are identified using multivariate analysis, suggesting a pivotal role for the political empowerment of women in the struggle for gender and social equality. However, the prevalence of informal labor combined with insufficient or non-existing maternity benefits outside the systems of social insurance still poses significant obstacles to the protection of women workers in some countries.

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