Generous Welfare State Research Articles

Access to general social protection for immigrants in advanced democracies

Immigration has become a central socio-political issue in most advanced democracies. While research mainly focuses on immigrant-specific policies in the area of immigration, integration and citizenship, we still know very little about the incorporation of immigrants into mainstream social policies. By analysing cross-national differences in the inclusion of immigrants into general social protection across 27 rich democracies on the basis of comparative indicators from the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) dataset, we seek to address this gap in a quantitative study. A cross-national comparison of these indicators shows a particularly large variation in the inclusiveness of the access to social protection for immigrants across countries. By drawing on the welfare state and integration regime literature, we assess the power of two contrasting perspectives, namely, the post-national welfare state and the welfare chauvinism models, in explaining this large cross-national variation in immigrants’ access to social security and social housing. Our overall findings suggest that both the welfare chauvinist and the post-national welfare state models comprise two theoretical perspectives that turn out to be fruitful to interpret cross-national variation in immigrants’ access to social protection. According to the welfare chauvinism model, we find robust evidence that left-wing cabinets are particularly reluctant to open general social protection schemes to immigrants. By contrast and in line with expectations derived from the post-national welfare state model, countries with an overall generous welfare state and countries facing large immigration flows tend to provide immigrants with more generous access to social protection.

Informal social protection: a case study of a small island economy

The social protection system is well-anchored in the Mauritian economy and is characterised by a generous welfare state. However, there is still a rising need for informal social protection, which are provided through community, religious institutions and non-governmental organisations. The aim of the paper is to analyse the role of non-governmental organisations and religious groups in providing social aid to vulnerable groups in Mauritius. We first undertake focus group discussions with eight cultural and religious institutions and second we use data from a survey carried out with 30 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to analyse the different social security schemes provided. Our results show that informal social protection is very much present in the Mauritian society and while religious groups in general are more inclined to aid the socially excluded population pertaining to their respective religious belief or community group, while non-governmental organisations tend to help the vulnerable groups in general.

Informal social protection: a case study of a small island economy

The social protection system is well-anchored in the Mauritian economy and is characterised by a generous welfare state. However, there is still a rising need for informal social protection, which are provided through community, religious institutions and non-governmental organisations. The aim of the paper is to analyse the role of non-governmental organisations and religious groups in providing social aid to vulnerable groups in Mauritius. We first undertake focus group discussions with eight cultural and religious institutions and second we use data from a survey carried out with 30 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to analyse the different social security schemes provided. Our results show that informal social protection is very much present in the Mauritian society and while religious groups in general are more inclined to aid the socially excluded population pertaining to their respective religious belief or community group, while non-governmental organisations tend to help the vulnerable groups in general.

Money or space? Intergenerational transfers in a comparative perspective

The provision of living space as well as financial transfers are important elements of functional solidarity between parents and adult children in contemporary European societies. However, prior research has revealed substantial discrepancies not only within but also between countries. Against this background, this paper investigates the relevance of money and space transfers and the connections between the two forms of support simultaneously using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The empirical results indicate that the needs of adult children as well as the opportunities of their parents are important determinants of support. Furthermore, parents in southern European countries with low levels of public family expenditures predominantly support their adult children by providing living space, whereas parents in northern European countries with more generous welfare states give direct financial support. Differences in country-specific transfer patterns can theoretically and empirically be traced back to welfare state support in general and national housing regimes and markets in particular.

Political distrust amidst The Great Recession: The mitigating effect of welfare state effort

The economic crisis that erupted in Europe in 2008 has not only caused economic grievances, but hurt citizens’ trust in their national political system. By now, most research attributes this loss in political trust to governments’ failing economic achievements. This article considers if and to what extent the drop in political trust amidst The Great Recession also was connected to governments’ welfare state effort. Combining individual and country-level data in a comparative multilevel research design, this paper overall finds that in cases of sudden and severe performance setbacks for which accountability is hard to assign, trust in democratic institutions may suffer. However, political trust seems to be especially susceptible to economic performance setbacks in countries with relatively low levels of welfare state effort, suggesting that governments might blunt some of the pain of an economic crisis by providing generous welfare state services to those in need.

Welfare resources and social risks in times of social and economic change: a multilevel study of material deprivation in European countries

ABSTRACTThis paper studies the association between collective welfare resources, levels of and inequalities in, material deprivation among ‘new’ as well as ‘old’ social risk groups four years into the global crisis. The data are based on the cross-sectional survey EU-SILC (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) 2012. The multilevel analysis includes 27 European countries and 294,803 individuals between 18 and 64 years of age. The results demonstrate that the risk of material deprivation decreased in absolute terms with increasing welfare generosity among all three risk groups studied: individuals facing limiting long-standing illness, the non-employed and the low educated. In some instances the modifying effect of welfare generosity was stronger among the advantaged group than among the disadvantaged groups. The low educated benefitted the most in terms of a substantially lower risk of material deprivation. Results also show that both the absolute inequalities and levels of material deprivation were consistently lower in generous welfare states. The findings support the view that directing undue weight on risks, risk assessment and risk management in the context of social work practices should not reduce the importance of collective welfare resources to alleviate welfare problems among disadvantaged groups.

Generous to all or ‘insiders only’? The relationship between welfare state generosity and immigrant welfare rights

Two sharply contrasting accounts exist for the relationships between welfare generosity and immigrant social rights. The dualization hypothesis argues that due to fiscal pressures and welfare chauvinism, generous welfare states are more likely to exclude immigrants from access to welfare benefits. The generosity hypothesis argues that on the contrary, in generous welfare states, an immigrant will be granted greater access to benefits for material, institutional and cultural reasons. Using newly collected data from the Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC) project that covers 18 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states over 30 years (1980–2010) the two hypotheses are tested using pooled time series analyses. Both a composite index of welfare generosity and social welfare expenditures are used as explanatory variables. Furthermore, the analyses include a number of controls from the welfare state literature, as well as a measure for overall immigration policy restrictiveness. The results broadly support the generosity hypothesis. By contrast, the analyses yield no support for the dualization hypothesis. The index of welfare generosity is positively and significantly associated with immigrant access to benefits, while social welfare expenditures are positively signed but not significant. A number of sensitivity analyses confirm the robustness of the results. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that generous welfare states are more likely to grant immigrants access to welfare benefits, and less generous welfare states are more likely to exclude immigrants from access.

Partisan politics, welfare states, and environmental policy outputs in the OECD countries, 1975–2005

AbstractBuilding on the burgeoning literature on the association between the welfare state and the environmental state, this study empirically examines how the politics of the former has affected the development of the latter. We suggest that the size of the welfare state shapes the calculus of environmental policy costs by partisan governments. A generous welfare state lowers the costs perceived by the left‐wing government, as large redistributive spending allows the government to mitigate the adverse impact of the new environmental policy on its core supporters, industrial workers. A generous welfare state also implies diminished marginal political returns from additional welfare commitment by the left‐wing government, which lowers the opportunity costs of environmental policy expansion. To the contrary, because of lower overall regulatory and taxation pressure, a small welfare state reduces the costs of environmental policy expansion as perceived by a right‐wing government. Our theoretical narrative is supported in a dynamic panel data analysis of environmental policy outputs in 25 Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development member states during the period 1975–2005.

Politized coalitions: Social affinity and the politics of redistribution

Does the structure of inequality in a society matter for the amount of redistribution from rich to poor? New, groundbreaking research indicates this to be the case: Where the market income of the middle class is comparably close to that of the poor, a cross-class coalition between the two groups emerges. This cross-class coalition will tend to favor a generous welfare state and extensive redistribution. We add to this in two ways. First, we complement the theoretical framework by highlighting the role of the politicization of multiculturalism. We posit that the social affinity between the middle class and the poor is lower when multiculturalism becomes politicized. Second, we provide new information on the mechanism by which social affinity affects redistribution. When the income of the middle class is comparatively close to the income of the poor, more people vote for left-leaning parties; yet as multiculturalism becomes politicized, this effect disappears.

The effect of number of siblings on adult mortality: Evidence from Swedish registers for cohorts born between 1938 and 1972

Demographic research has paid much attention to the impact of childhood conditions on adult mortality. We focus on one of the key aspects of early life conditions, sibling group size, and examine the causal effect of growing up in a large family on mortality. While previous studies have focused on low- or middle-income countries, we examine whether growing up in a large family is a disadvantage in Sweden, a context where most parents have adequate resources, which are complemented by a generous welfare state. We used Swedish register data and frailty models, examining all-cause and cause-specific mortality between the ages of 40 and 74 for the 1938–72 cohorts, and also a quasi-experimental approach that exploited multiple births as a source of exogenous variation in the number of siblings. Overall our results do not indicate that growing up in a large family has a detrimental effect on longevity in Sweden.

Kvinnors och mäns hjälp till sina gamla föräldrar – innehåll, omfattning och konsekvenser

Women’s and men’s lial care: extent, content and consequencesThis paper analyses the extent, content and consequences of caregiving for elderly parents from a gender and welfare state perspective using a nationally representative postal survey conducted in Sweden in 2013 (response rate 60.5 per cent, 3630 individuals, age 45–66 years). Negative consequences of filial care on well-being, work situation and employment were examined. The analysis confirms earlier research showing that filial care is common in Sweden but is less intense and has fewer negative consequences than in less generous welfare states. A quarter of both women and men gave filial care at least once a month, on average around 3.4 hours a week. Although men and women gave the same extent of filial care, it was more common among women to give the more demanding personal care as well as to experience mental and physical strain, difficulties in finding time for leisure activities and reduced ability to focus on their job. Although women retired earlier than planned due to filial care more often than men, this was very rare. Men and women, however, suffered to the same extent from difficulties in managing to accomplish their tasks, to take part in meetings, courses and travels, as well as having to reduce their working hours and quit their jobs. The content of care was crucial for the occurrence of negative consequences of caregiving, even when the analysis controlled for hours of care given. The more demanding the care tasks performed, the more common it was among both men and women that their well-being and work situation were affected. The correlation between care tasks and negative impact, however, differed between genders. The impact of managerial care was much higher for women than for men, which is discussed in relation to the decline of eldercare services and the lack of coordination of health and eldercare services.

THE EQUALITY MULTIPLIER: HOW WAGE COMPRESSION AND WELFARE EMPOWERMENT INTERACT

We explore how more wage equality fuels the generosity of the welfare state via political competition in elections, and how a more generous welfare state fuels wage equality via empowerment of weak groups in the labor market. Together the two mechanisms may generate a cumulative process that explains how equality multiplies, and why countries with more equal distributions of market outcomes also have stronger welfare states. The complementarity between wage setting and welfare spending can explain why almost equally rich countries differ so much in economic and social equality among their citizens. (JEL: H53, I31, J31)

Welfare Generosity in Europe: A Multi‐level Study of Material Deprivation and Income Poverty among Disadvantaged Groups

AbstractThe aim of this study is to analyze whether and to what extent welfare generosity moderates the risk of income poverty and material deprivation among disadvantaged groups, that is, people with ill health, low education and lack of employment. The data are based on the 2009 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (cross‐sectional) surveys. The analyses comprise 27 and 28 European countries, including 292,874 and 302,343 individuals between 18 and 64 years of age. Multi‐level analyses demonstrated that welfare generosity moderated the risk of both material deprivation and income poverty. With few exceptions, the risk decreased among disadvantaged groups in absolute terms. Among individuals who experienced the combinations of limiting long‐standing illness and either low education or non‐employment, the absolute inequalities in material deprivation decreased with increasing welfare generosity. Also, the absolute inequalities in income poverty among individuals who experienced the combination of limiting long‐standing illness and low education were lower in more generous welfare contexts. Results indicated lower absolute levels of both material deprivation and income poverty among disadvantaged individuals in generous welfare states. However, for material deprivation the results were more substantial and consistent than for income poverty. Taken together, these findings support the view that generous welfare states reach the worst‐off and are successful in buffering material deprivation and income poverty and, hence, in reducing social inequalities.

Devine intervention? Lessons in systemic retrenchment from Canada’s most generous welfare state

ABSTRACTThis article tackles the importance of systemic retrenchment in welfare state research by focusing on two core elements neglected in the literature: the civil service and governmental revenues. Saskatchewan has possessed key ingredients associated with generous welfare states: a dominant left-wing party, a supportive bureaucracy and important non-visible fiscal revenues. According to the comparative welfare state literature, this is also an excellent recipe for maintaining a generous welfare state amid attempts, primarily by right-wing governments, to scale it back. Yet, most social indicators in the post-Devine years demonstrate that Saskatchewan can no longer be considered a leading welfare state in Canada. Reforms to the bureaucracy and a host of financial measures resulting in a near default explain why the Devine government was successful in its efforts to disrupt the CCF/NDP social legacy despite the fact that the NDP regained power for 16 years afterwards.

Skills and Inequality: Partisan Politics and the Political Economy of Education Reforms in Western Welfare StatesBusemeyer, MariusCambridge, Cambridge University Press (2015), 309 p., ISBN 978‐1‐107‐06293‐1

Skills and Inequality: Partisan Politics and the Political Economy of Education Reforms in Western Welfare StatesBusemeyer, MariusCambridge, Cambridge University Press (2015), 309 p., ISBN 978‐1‐107‐06293‐1

Getting Sick and Disabled People off Temporary Benefit Receipt: Strategies and Dilemmas in the Welfare State’s Frontline

This article explores responses by frontline workers in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service (NAV) to activation policy measures. Frontline workers in NAV are required to write work capability assessments for long-term sick and disabled benefit recipients within a reformed organizational structure with holistic agencies (‘one-stop shops’). These policy mechanisms are intended to empower the frontline workers and make them emphasize work and activation in their evaluation of the employability of the beneficiaries. However, a large number of long-term sick and disabled people remain in receipt of temporary benefits. Key findings emerging from this study’s fieldwork suggest that frontline workers often perceive the task of clarifying the employability status of longterm sick and disabled people to be demanding. Their assessments hinge on criteria set by actors outside the frontline office—and these criteria are hard to obtain. Consequently, the limited range of exit options restricts the discretion of the frontline workers, which results in locking claimants with complex problems into temporary benefit. Their attention tends to be drawn to concerns that are likely to be unintended, which are to keep claimants’ income safe and to secure a smooth workflow within the office as well as to smooth benefit transactions. The context of a generous welfare state with a strongly rights-based benefit scheme is regarded as a likely contributor to these concerns.

Multikulturalizam u europskom kontekstu: dosezi i nesuglasja

Multikulturalizam u europskom kontekstu: dosezi i nesuglasja

Polityka społeczna w Polsce wobec przemian europejskiego modelu społecznego

The European social model is a vision of society that combines sustainable economic growth with the reduction of economic and social inequalities through income redistribution, ensuring a high level of social security and universal access to basic social services. Some economists argue that the last three decades have witnessed a rapid transition towards a new minimal welfare state, in the wake of the rising importance of services (post-industrialism), globalisation, population ageing, changing family and gender relations. In that perspective, the European social model is more chimera than reality. The author argues that the existing social democratic model of the welfare state is likely to be a response to the challenges social policy currently faces. Furthermore, the social democratic model corresponds well with the assumptions of the European social model. With the transformation of the early 1990s, Poland abandoned its socialist welfare system. Although it is debatable whether current social policy in Poland can be classified according to any of Esping-Andersen's well-known welfare types, changes in the labour market will be crucial for the size and shape of the Polish welfare state in the future. The sustainability of the generous welfare state ultimately depends on the citizens' participation in the labour force participation.

Accountability from the perspective of the forum: citizens’ attitudes towards accountability in Europe

The aim of this article is to analyse citizens’ attitudes towards governmental accountability in 24 European countries and to examine the influence of contextual and individual factors on perceptions of accountability. Using as a dataset the 2012 European Social Survey, the results show that citizens respond positively when the media provides reliable information on which to judge the government, when individuals perceive that governments perform well, when individuals live in more extensive and generous welfare states and when they live in countries where the rule of law is firmly established. In addition, the findings also provide evidence that compared to politically left-wing citizens, right-wing supporters have, on average, a higher perception of governmental accountability. In particular, the findings show strong positive evaluations of right-wing governments by right-wing voters in comparison with left-wing governments by left-wing voters.

Migrants, Manpower and Math in the Coming Europe

"A dead child" said stalin "is a tragedy. Two million are a statistic." A single photograph of a beach riveted world attention, converting syrian refugees from statistics to tragedy. But the statistics remain. Three Canadian columnists have offered contrasting interpretations. Eric Reguly argues that a static and aging Europe needs more manpower to sustain its economy. Margaret Wente, however, observes the failure of integration of migrants in Sweden. Migrants are drawn by open borders and a generous welfare state, but do not fit an advanced, high-skill economy. Gwynne Dyer notes that current inflows, IF evenly distributed, are a tiny proportion of the overall European Union. But economic migrants from Africa are a much larger issue. Their numbers are effectively inexhaustible.