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 Age-Orientation of Social Policy Regimes in OECD Countries
