scholarly journals Measuring the Generosity of Parental Leave Policies

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeline Otto ◽  
Alzbeta Bártová ◽  
Wim Van Lancker
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Welfare Provision ◽  
State Research ◽  
Cash Benefits

In order to investigate and compare welfare states or specific welfare programmes, scientists, opinion‐makers and politicians rely on indicators. As many of the concepts or objects studied are somewhat abstract, these indicators can often only be approximations. In comparative welfare‐state research, scholars have suggested several approximating indicators to quantitatively measure and compare the generosity of public welfare provision, with a special focus on cash benefits. These indicators include social spending, social rights and benefit receipt. We present these indicators systematically, and critically discuss how suitable they are for comparing the generosity of parenting leave policies in developed welfare states. Subsequently, we illustrate how the operationalisation of leave generosity by means of different indicators can lead to different rankings, interpretations and qualifications of countries. Hence, indicator choices have to be considered carefully and suitably justified, depending on the actual research interest.

scholarly journals Borrowing for social security? Credit, asset-based welfare and the decline of the German savings regime

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 474-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Mertens
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Recent Trend ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Welfare Provision ◽  
Homeownership Rate ◽  
Rate Environment ◽  
The Welfare State

This article investigates the question to what extent Germany fits into the recent trend of credit-based social policy that has originated in Anglophone economies. In the course of the financial crisis and with its preceding increase in private indebtedness in mind, a growing number of scholars have argued that loans to households have become a central component of contemporary welfare states. Because of comprehensive savings-promotion schemes, high levels of public welfare provision and a low homeownership rate, the German welfare state conventionally figures as the paradigmatic counter case to this intensifying relation between welfare and finance. This article argues, to the contrary, that one can observe the rise of credit-based social policy in Germany due to the gradual erosion of savings promotion, the expansion of quasi-public loan schemes and the restructuring of the welfare state since the mid-1970s. Based on document and statistical analysis, the article evaluates reform trajectories in the field of pensions, education and healthcare to substantiate this claim. Within the current low-interest rate environment in the Eurozone, the developments combined might well challenge the traditional savings-oriented features of the German welfare state and its political economy.

scholarly journals Social innovation as a policy response to restructure the welfare state

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 269-276
Author(s):  
Doğa Başar Sariipek ◽  
Gökçe Cerev ◽  
Bora Yenihan
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The State ◽  
Welfare Provision ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Welfare State

The focus of this paper is the interaction between social innovation and restructuring welfare state. Modern welfare states have been reconfiguring their welfare mixes through social innovation. This includes a productive integration of formal and informal actors with support and leading role of the state. This collaboration becomes significantly important since it means the integration of not only the actors, but also their capabilities and resources in today’s world where new social risks and new social challenges have emerged and no actor can overcome these by its own. Therefore, social innovation is a useful tool in the new role sharing within the welfare mix in order to reach higher levels of satisfaction and success in welfare provision. The main point here is that this is not a zero-sum competition; gaining more power of the actors other than the state – the market, civil society organisations and the family – does not necessarily mean that the state lost its leading role and power. This is rather a new type of cooperation among actors and their capabilities as well as their resources in welfare provision. In this sense, social innovation may contribute well to the debates over the financial crisis of the welfare state since it may lead to the more wisely use of existing resources of welfare actors. Thanks to social innovative programs, not only the NGOs, but also market forces as well as citizens are more active to access welfare provisions and social protection in the broadest sense. Thus, social innovative strategies are definitely a solid step taken towards “enabling” or “active” welfare state.

Models of the Welfare State

2021 ◽  
pp. 786-802
Author(s):  
Philip Manow
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Short Discussion ◽  
The West ◽  
Welfare Capitalism ◽  
European Model ◽  
The Past ◽  
State Research ◽  
The Welfare State

IN 1990, Gøsta Esping-Andersen published The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, a work which has turned out to be the single most important and decisive contribution to welfare state research in the past thirty to forty years. In essence, Esping-Andersen argued that we can observe systematic variation in the character of the developed welfare states of the West, which he grouped into three distinct welfare state models: a Scandinavian social democratic model, a conservative continental European model, and a liberal Anglo-Saxon model. This chapter provides a short description of Esping-Andersen’s three regimes; introduces a fourth, Southern European model, which will then be described in somewhat more detail; and outlines a historical and genealogical account of the development of all four models. Finally, the chapter briefly expands on the comparative perspective with a short discussion on whether the regime concept or the understanding of distinct welfare models can also be applied to other regions, such as Latin America and Asia.

Breaking the Mold

2019 ◽  
pp. 92-173
Author(s):  
Jason Beckfield
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Political Inequality ◽  
European Welfare State ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Distribution Of Income

This chapter describes how the resources generated by the integrated European economy have been distributed as social rights of citizenship. As the European economy has developed, have European welfare states expanded, stabilized, or retrenched? These trends and effects matter because they reveal the changing structure of political inequality in Europe, and because the European welfare state has a strong effect on the distribution of income across European households. The first part of the chapter addresses the question of whether the development of the integrated European economy contributed to expansion of the social rights of citizenship, which would be a sign of reduced political inequality within European nations. The second part addresses the subject of political inequality in Europe as an integrating whole more directly by engaging with the convergence debate: with respect to citizenship rights, does it now matter more or less which national political economy one inhabits?

8 Welfare state transformation in small open economies

2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (S1) ◽  
pp. 161-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
HERBERT OBINGER ◽  
STEPHAN LEIBFRIED ◽  
CLAUDIA BOGEDAN ◽  
EDITH GINDULIS ◽  
JULIA MOSER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
State Transformation ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Spending Patterns ◽  
Downward Spiral

We examine whether a fundamental change in the core dimension of modern 20th century statehood, the welfare state, has become evident in response to changed exogenous and endogenous challenges. By combining quantitative and qualitative approaches we take stock of social policy development in four advanced welfare states – Austria, Denmark, New Zealand and Switzerland – over the last 30 years. Neither spending patterns nor structural changes support a ‘race to the bottom thesis’, according to which the changed environment of welfare state policies has led to a downward spiral in benefit provision. On the contrary, we show that social spending levels have risen, mainly due to a catch-up of former welfare state laggards. In structural terms, a blurring of welfare regimes can be observed. This twofold process can be described as dual convergence.

scholarly journals Industrial Relations as a Source of Solidarity in Times of Welfare State Retrenchment

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE TRAMPUSCH
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Public Benefits ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
State Research ◽  
State Restructuring ◽  
Market Liberalisation

Within the literature on retrenchment policies, the ‘solidarity-decline thesis’ is discussed. It is argued that current welfare state restructuring leads to a decrease in the actual social cohesion of society because redistributive public benefits are cut. The article addresses this thesis by presenting empirical evidence on social security based on collective bargaining. In Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands, collective agreements are increasingly used to regulate and finance social benefits. These collectively negotiated benefits may compensate to a certain degree for solidarity losses caused by retrenchment policies. The article reviews concepts of solidarity used in the literature and develops a two-dimensional scheme of four different concepts. The conclusion for comparative welfare state research is twofold. First, when viewing policies of welfare state retrenchment, the research should systematically include industrial relations in its frame of reference. Second, further studies should analyse the politics as well as the outcomes of collectively negotiated benefits more systematically. Under certain conditions, which are worth specifying, collective bargaining may lead to complex public–private mixes that shift welfare states in other directions than outright market liberalisation, not only in factual but also in normative terms.

scholarly journals A MACRO-COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF WELFARE STATE CONVERGENCE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-32
Author(s):  
Ágnes OROSZ ◽  
◽  
Norbert SZIJÁRTÓ ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Comparative Assessment ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Welfare ◽  
State Regime

In this paper, we provide a macro-comparative assessment of welfare state convergence. Using the welfare state regime approach, the paper analyses the development of main welfare state indicators within in the enlarged European Union. In this study we capitalize on descriptive statistics and a single convergence analysis based on standard deviation in order to capture alterations in national welfare models of 26 European countries and among acknowledged welfare regimes. Our fundamental aim is to seize on long-term processes (convergence, divergence, or persistence), so we cover almost a two-decade period starting at 2000. Our results, in general, suggest that convergence among welfare states (different indicator of social spending) of European countries is particularly weak, however convergence inside welfare regimes is significantly stronger apart from the Anglo-Saxon group. The pre-crisis period was characterized by a stronger convergence among European countries as a consequence of economic prosperity and intense EU intervention.

Welfare State Research and Comparative Political Economy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silja Häusermann
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Comparative Political Economy ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
State Research

Which risks are social and which are private? How much of their GDP do states spend on social welfare? Who exactly is entitled to which benefits? Is it still possible to finance an encompassing welfare state in times of deindustrialization, technological and demographic change, and globalization? And why do the answers to these questions differ so much across countries? These and similar questions—all central to social cohesion in capitalist democracies—ensure that the analysis of welfare politics is one of the theoretically as well as methodologically most dynamic and richest research areas within comparative political economy and political science more generally. Besides outlining the comparative development and the difficulty of measuring social policy, the focus of this contribution lies in a critical review of the most important past and current theoretical debates in the field of welfare state research, as a subfield of comparative political economy. These debates include party- and power-resource-centered approaches and their critiques, institutional explanations of welfare state retrenchment and restructuring, and the importance of multidimensional distributional effects for the analysis of social policy. The article concludes with a review of three more recent debates: the importance of public opinion and individual preferences for the development of the welfare state, the interaction of social policy and the changes of party systems, and the increasing relevance of social investment policies. The political and scientific need for innovative political science research will continue for the foreseeable future: Theory building and methodological possibilities are developing quickly, and the welfare states as research subject are constantly being challenged.

scholarly journals The political economy of immigration and welfare state effort: evidence from Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Fenwick
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Welfare Provision ◽  
Welfare Spending ◽  
Welfare Generosity

AbstractThis article explores whether immigration plays a role in determining national welfare state effort in 16 European countries. It examines the relationship between stocks of migrants, the foreign-born population, on two different indicators of welfare state effort – social welfare spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) and a welfare generosity index. The nexus between immigration and welfare is a controversial and highly sensitive political issue, and as such it typically divides opinion. Traditionally, it has been argued that increases in immigration create pressures for governments to reduce levels of social welfare provision. By building on theories and results from the political economy literature, this article provides further evidence on the debate through using a fresh approach to operationalize welfare state effort. The empirical results show that the foreign-born population has a positive and statistically significant relationship with social welfare spending and no statistically significant association with the welfare generosity index. The findings provide no evidence to support the hypothesis that the higher levels of immigration lead to reduced levels of social welfare provision. On the contrary, these findings lend support to the view that increasing immigration leads to welfare state expansion rather than retrenchment, and that European welfare states remain resilient in the face of the globalization of migration.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document