Welfare State Regimes Research Articles

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

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.

Social Investment, Employment and Policy and Institutional Complementarities: A Comparative Analysis across 26 OECD Countries

AbstractRaising employment has been at the heart of EU strategies for over twenty years. Social investment, by now a widely debated topic in the comparative welfare state literature, has been suggested as a way to pursue this. However, there are only a couple of systematic comparative analyses that focus on the employment outcomes associated with social investment. Analyses of the interdependence of these policies with regard to their outcomes are even more scarce. We empirically analyse the extent to which variation in employment rates within 26 OECD countries over the period 1990-2010 can be explained by effort on five social investment policies. We additionally explore the role of policy and institutional complementarities. Using time-series cross-section analyses we find robust evidence for a positive association between effort on ALMPs and employment rates. For other policies we obtain mixed results. ALMPs are the only policies for which we observe signs of policy interdependence, which point at diminishing marginal returns. Additionally, our analysis demonstrates that the interdependence of social investment policies varies across welfare state regimes. Together, this indicates that the employment outcomes of social investment policies are also contingent on the broader framework of welfare state policies and institutions.

Financial Strain and Health Status Among European Workers: Gender and Welfare State Inequalities.

Objectives: Although in-work poverty has been increasing, in Europe policy about poverty and social exclusion tends to focus on labor market participation, independently of the level of remuneration and the quality of work, and studies about financial strain among workers, as well as on its relationship with health status, are still scarce. The objectives of this study were: (1) to compare the prevalence of financial strain among workers among different welfare state typologies, and (2) to examine whether the relationship between financial strain and health status differs by welfare state regime. For both objectives we examined whether there were gender differences.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey of 2015 and selected a subsample of all employees from the EU28 aged 16–64 years (13,156 men and 13,225 women).Results: There were large differences in the prevalence of financial strain between welfare state typologies, which were not explained by individual factors. Additionally, differences across welfare regimes were greater among women. Nordic countries had the lowest prevalence (12.1% among men and 12.3% among women) whereas Southern European countries had the highest (49.5% among men and 47.9% among women). In both sexes and in all welfare state typologies, financial strain was associated with poor self-perceived health status and poor psychological well-being. Whereas, Southern European countries had the highest prevalence of financial strain, the magnitude of the association with health status was smaller than in other country typologies.Conclusion: In Europe, policies are needed to address the specific structural factors leading to financial strain as well as its relationship with health status among workers.

States of violence: Exploring welfare state regimes as violence regimes by developing a violence regimes index

The aim of the article is to examine if and how the welfare state regime typology translates into a violence regime typology in a European context. It builds on the concept of violence regimes (Strid et al. 2017; Hearn et al. 2020) to empirically examine whether the production of interpersonal violence constitutes distinct regimes, and how these correspond (or not) with welfare regimes, gender regimes, and with other comparative metrics on violence, gender equality and feminist mobilisation and transnational actors. Its main contribution is to operationalise the concept of violence regimes, thereby moving from theory to a first empirical measurement. By first constructing a new composite measure of violence, a Violence Regimes Index, based on secondary administrative and survey data covering the then 28 EU member states, countries are clustered along two axes of violence: ‘deadly’ violence and ‘damaging’ gender-based violence. This serves to examine if, and how, the production of gendered violence in different states constitutes distinct regimes, analogous to welfare state regimes, as well as to enable future research and further comparisons and contrasts, specifically related to violence and the welfare state. By providing an empirical measurement of violence regimes in the EU, the article then contributes further to the debates on welfare, welfare regimes, and violence. It specifically contributes with discussions on the extent to which there are different violence regimes, comparable to welfare regimes, and with discussions on the relevance of moving from thinking about violence as an institution within other inequality regimes, to thinking about violence as a macro-regime, a way of governing and ruling in its own right. The article concludes that the exclusion of violence from mainstream social theory and research has produced results that may not be valid, and offers an alternative classification using the concept of violence regimes, thereby demonstrating the usefulness of the concept.

Incorporating pro-family and pro-female components into empirical welfare state classification: some new evidence for European countries

In this paper, we attempt to incorporate an innovative and more comprehensive view of defamilization into the comparative analysis of real-type welfare state models. The study presents four empirically distinguished welfare state regimes where we consider separately both notions associated with (de)familization and (de)genderization together with other dimensions characterizing different welfare state models. In a multivariate statistical analysis framework, we examine 25 European countries using data covering the period between 2014 and 2017. Our findings suggest that whereas Southern European countries represent various welfare state models, most of the analyzed Central and Eastern European countries form a separate group. Similarly, the Nordic countries, except Iceland, belong to the same cluster. However, CEE countries and Nordic countries represent extremely divergent models in terms of the degree of degenderization, but similar in terms of family policy, the public–private mix, as well as welfare state generosity. The data also show that the extensive welfare state coexists with the state’s predominance in delivering welfare provisions. Moreover, we demonstrate that neither the general size of the welfare state or its public–private mix nor a pro-family policy differentiate the socio-economic situation of women across countries studied.

Taking subnational and regional welfare states seriously: Insights from the Quebec case

Most quantitative, comparative welfare state research assumes that subnational welfare regimes are irrelevant or identical to their national counterparts. Many qualitative case studies, on the other hand, have underlined the differences between subnational and national regimes. In this article, we attempt to build bridges between these two strands of literature by examining the case for a Quebec model, that is, a subnational welfare state regime that is distinct from its Canadian counterpart(s). We reviewed seven publications from which we extracted 188 quantitative results relevant to the distinct subnational regime hypothesis. Although not all these results are independent nor based on conclusive evidence, they generally agree that a distinct welfare regime exists in Quebec. We conclude this article by discussing the implications of the Quebec case for the study of welfare regimes at the subnational and regional levels.

Why Precarious Work Is Bad for Health: Social Marginality as Key Mechanisms in a Multi-National Context

AbstractThe expansion of precarious work in recent decades has motivated a large body of research on its implications for health. While considerable work has focused on whether precarious work undermines health, much less is known about why it matters. To fill this gap, this paper offers and tests a conceptual model whereby the effects of precarious work on health are mediated by social marginality, specifically reduced self-efficacy, weaker social integration, and lower social capital. All three mechanisms are understood as both social consequences of precarious work and important determinants of health. Empirically, we use data from the European Social Survey and investigate (1) conditional direct effects of precarious work on self-rated health and (2) extent of mediation via the three mechanisms. Furthermore, we assess the generalizability of the model across five welfare state regimes that prior work has deemed to be important moderators of the health–precarious work relationship. Results indicate precarious work has significant conditional direct effects and indirect effects through all three mediators that significantly reduce effect of precarious work on health. This is robust in the general sample and for four of five welfare state regimes. These findings highlight a previously unexplored vector connecting precarious work to health and indicate that the effects of precarious work on perceptions of self and social relations is a key link to poorer health. The study also expands conceptualization of the broad role of socioeconomic status for health inequalities and furthers understanding of the mechanisms at work.

Gender, welfare state regimes and social policy beyond advanced capitalism: Pathways to decommodification in middle‐income countries

AbstractIn Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Gøsta Esping‐Andersen, using decommodification as a basis, classified advanced capitalist countries into liberal, conservative‐corporatist, and social‐democratic welfare regimes. Subsequently, Ann Shola Orloff deemed his approach gender blind, and dimensions such as access to paid work and the capacity to form and maintain an autonomous household were added to the existing variables of state–market relations, stratification and social citizenship rights. Based on Orloff's theoretical propositions, this paper develops the decommodification measures to classify middle‐income countries (MICs). The paper classifies MICs into five clusters based on hierarchical cluster analysis using variables such as GDP per capita, female labour force participation, availability, duration and wage replacement levels and providers of maternity leave benefits and availability of childcare services, legislation on sexual harassment, marital rape and domestic violence, protection orders, the availability of legal aid for civil and criminal matters and the proportion of seats held by women in parliaments.

МЕЖСТРАНОВАЯ СРАВНИТЕЛЬНАЯ ОЦЕНКА ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТИ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО УПРАВЛЕНИЯ

The article describes a comprehensive approach to the evaluation of public governance efficiency. The proposed methodology is based on the composite index, encompassing indicators that correspond to the key areas of public governance — economic, social, political, and ideological. Conceptually, the study relies on institutional studies, the theory of social market economy, and the theory of welfare state. The aim of the study is to develop and test a methodology that would be consistent with a broader understand of social well-being encompassing material and non-material factors. The methodology was tested by using cross-national comparison of public governance efficiency. The sample covers 20 countries (including Russia) from 2008 to 2018. Social research data were the primary information source, which allowed us to overcome the narrow understanding of welfare and reject the neoclassical homo economicus model. The countries are clustered according to the two parameters: the efficiency index and the difference between the maximum and minimum values of aggregated indicators constituting the composite index. We found an inverse U-shaped relationship between the selected criteria, which may be explained by institutional differences between the given countries. The results were compared with the classification of welfare state regimes. It was found that the social democratic economic regime holds significant potential. The findings in this study seem to suggest several lines for further research, for example, the proposed methodology may be tested on a larger sample for a longer period.

Employment and income support policies during the early phases of COVID-19: Lessons from the U.S., Denmark, and Taiwan

As COVID-19 spread across the world in 2020, health and economic activities have been impacted, and unemployment has risen across many countries. The consequences have been particularly harmful to vulnerable populations such as women, racial minorities, or part-time workers. While many governments enacted employment and income support policies as a response to this economic and health crisis, there has been a lack of comparative and evaluative reviews of how policies have addressed unemployment and inequality during the pandemic. In this study, we draw on Esping-Andersen’s (1990) frame of a liberal versus social-democratic welfare state to contextualize some employment and income support polices during the early phases of COVID-19 from the U.S., Denmark, and Taiwan, aiming to enhance the understanding of such policies. We found that the U.S., being more aligned with a liberal welfare state regime, relied on more market mechanisms to address labor and employment issues. Denmark and Taiwan, being more aligned with a social-democratic welfare state, enacted more interventions in and redistributions outside of the market to address employment problems. The human costs of unemployment and unemployment and labor market hysteresis are addressed in light of these two different approaches and outcomes.

Social policy responses to COVID‐19 in Canada and the United States: Explaining policy variations between two liberal welfare state regimes

AbstractCanada and the United States are often grouped together as liberal welfare‐state regimes, with broadly similar levels of social spending. Yet, as the COVID‐19 pandemic reveals, the two countries engage in highly divergent approaches to social policymaking during a massive public health emergency. Drawing on evidence from the first 5 months of the pandemic, this article compares social policy measures taken by the United States and Canadian governments in response to COVID‐19. In general, we show that Canadian responses were both more rapid and comprehensive than those of the United States. This variation, we argue, can be explained by analysing the divergent political institutions, pre‐existing policy legacies, and variations in cross‐partisan consensus, which have all shaped national decision‐making in the middle of the crisis.

Changes in the provision of instrumental support by older adults in nine European countries during 2004\u20142015: a panel data analysis

BackgroundProviding support to others has been shown to be beneficial to older adults. As people age, their health and social relationships change. These changes may also relate to changes in social support provision. We examined the trajectory of instrumental support provision by older people in three European regions throughout 11 years of follow-up. We then examined the extent to which age at baseline, sex, and region (representing welfare state regime) influenced the variations in the trajectory.MethodsData collected from 8354 respondents who had completed at least waves 1 and 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) was analysed. Instrumental support provision was determined from asking a single question regarding whether the respondent provided help personally for people outside their household. Region, sex, and age at baseline were the main predictors tested. We used growth modelling to address the aims of this study.ResultsThe northern European region (Sweden and Denmark) had the highest odds ratio of instrumental support provision. The likelihood of being involved in providing instrumental support decreased by 8% annually (OR: 0.916, 95%CI: 0.893,0.940) over the 11 years of follow-up. Older respondents were less likely to provide instrumental support and their trajectories declined faster than those of the younger respondents. Sex difference in instrumental support provision was more apparent among younger-older people in the southern European region.ConclusionsOlder European adults are an important source of instrumental support, especially for their families. The probability of instrumental support provision by European older adults declines over time. Age, sex, and welfare state regime predict this trajectory.

Precarious employment and mental health in European welfare state regimes: a multilevel approach

Abstract Background Precarious employment (PE) is a key social determinant of health that is, in turn, shaped by the broader institutional framework of the country in which it is embedded. At the same time, evidence sustains that welfare state regimes (WSRs) have a decisive role in determining people's health. However, the interaction effect between them is yet to be studied from a public health perspective. This article examines how WSRs, PE and mental health (MH) relate in Europe, and whether this relationship differs between women and men. Methods Data were derived from the European Working Conditions Survey 2015. PE was measured through the Employment Precariousness Scale for Europe (EPRES-E), validated for comparative research in 22 European countries, which were classified into five WSRs (Bismarckian, Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Southern and Central-Eastern). MH was measured through the WHO-5 Well-Being Index. In a sample of 30,795 formal employees, we performed multilevel poisson regression models stratified by women and men. Results Results show a gradual association between PE quartiles and poor MH (PR Q2=1.37 CI95% [1.13-1.65], Q3=1.86[1.51-2.30], Q4=2.96[2.31-3.81] men; PR Q2=1.15[0.97-1.37], Q3=1.48[1.22-1.79], Q4=2.06[1.64-2.58] women) after adjusting for control variables. Further, the Scandinavian WSR displayed an overall protective effect for MH among men, as compared with the Bismarckian (PR = 0.58[0.34-0.99]). Regarding the interaction effects, these were only significant in the Central-Eastern WSR, which was found to boost the negative association between PE and MH among women (PR = 1.17[1.03-1.33]). Conclusions These findings point to a differential effect of WSRs on the negative relationship between PE and MH according to gender. Key messages European welfare state regimes unequally affect the negative association between precarious employment and mental health. This differential is also gender-based, since the Central-Eastern regime further deteriorates the mental health of precarious employees only among women, as compared to the Bismarckian.

Gender equality regimes and evaluation regimes in Europe and their implications for policy design and evaluation

PurposeThis article starts from the assumption that it is important for the evaluation of gender equality interventions in RTDI (Research, Technology Development and Innovation) to consider its context regarding gender equality regime and evaluation culture because this context does influence effects and long term impacts of such activities. It aims to provide key characteristics for the differentiation of gender equality regimes and evaluation regimes to be considered when designing policy interventions or evaluating specific gender equality interventions in RTDI. Design/methodology/approachAfter a literature review of relevant typologies for welfare state and gender equality regimes, it was analysed to which extent the seven EFFORTI countries correspond to certain typologies based on the data basis of the context research performed in the EFFORTI project. For this context research, international/national and qualitative/quantitative data regarding the relevant framework conditions were firstly collected for each of the EFFORTI countries and secondly compared in a cross-country analysis. FindingsThe research showed that when it comes to gender equality policies, most EFFORTI countries can either be assigned to the Social-Democratic category or Conservative Equal Employment Regime category in the typology of von Wahl (2005), with the latter type tending to provide less favourable conditions for women in the general labour market as well as women in RTDI (e.g. overtime culture). In how far these different types of context can have an impact on the evaluation of interventions can be exemplarily illustrated using case studies carried out as part of EFFORTI.Connecting the typologies for gender equality policy with evaluation regimes has not proved fruitful, as the two discourses have only begun to converge in recent years. The evaluation regimes and cultures of the respective countries have therefore been described independently. However, it was shown that countries with more expertise in certain areas (e.g. gender, evaluations) developed more routinized and institutionalised procedures in the respective field. Originality/valueConsidering the different framework conditions is relevant when it comes to evaluation as different national contexts might require different policy and designs of activities, but might also shape the interventions’ effects. This article therefore aims to provide support in this regard for future evaluations of gender policies.

Social inequality and homeownership from a comparative perspective: Is there a return of the welfare state?

Esping-Andersen’s typology of welfare state regimes has been one of the most influential contributions to comparative studies. The general picture of this typology has four variants: social democratic, conservative, southern European, and liberal regimes. This typology becomes controversial particularly when homeownership inequalities are considered. Our study aims to evaluate the sustainability of the welfare state regime typology with regard to reducing inequalities of homeownership. The paper uses data from the Luxembourg Income Study to analyze the changes in homeownership rates for low-income populations as compared to the entire population. We compared ten countries representing various welfare regimes from 2000 to 2013/16 to examine the variations of homeownership and social inequalities over time. The results show that the distribution of countries seems to have a negative correlation between welfare regimes (according to the Gini index) and homeownership rates. In liberal countries (except Canada) and southern European countries, homeownership rates fell over time. In most of these countries, low-income populations experienced the highest decline in homeownership rates during the observed period.

Work-life balance and self-reported health among working adults in Europe: a gender and welfare state regime comparative analysis

BackgroundThe pressing demands of work over the years have had a significant constraint on the family and social life of working adults. Moreover, failure to achieve a ‘balance’ between these domains of life may have an adverse effect on their health. This study investigated the relationship between work-life conflict and self-reported health among working adults in contemporary welfare countries in Europe.MethodsData from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey 2015 on 32,275 working adults from 30 countries in Europe were analysed. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the associations between work-life balance and self-reported health among men and women. We further used a 2 stage multi-level logistic regression to assess variations in self-reported health among welfare state regimes by gender.ResultsThe results showed a strong association between work-life conflict and poor self-reported health among working adults in Europe (aOR = 2.07; 95% CI: 1.93–2.23). However, the magnitude of the effect differed slightly by gender (men: aOR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.78–2.18 vs women: aOR = 2.23; 95% CI: 2.01–2.47). Furthermore, we found variations in the relationship between work-life conflict and poor self-reported health between welfare states regimes. The association was found to be weaker in the Nordic and Southern welfare states than the Liberal, Conservative, and Central Eastern European welfare states. Although the associations were more consistent among men than women in the Conservative welfare states regime, we found higher associations for women than men in the Southern, Nordic, Liberal, and Central Eastern European welfare states.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence of some variations in the association between work-life conflict and poor self-reported health among men and women across welfare states regimes in Europe. The results demonstrate the need for governments, organizations and policymakers to provide conducive working conditions and social policies for working adults to deal with competing demands from work and family activities.

Rent regulation in 21st century Europe. Comparative perspectives

The general housing policy trend in Europe has been towards neoliberalization meaning less state involvement in housing market and less government support for housing production. However, private rental markets are still regulated in many European countries. Here, we classify 33 European countries based on rent regulation system and welfare state regime. There seems to be some but not too much correspondence between the welfare state regime and whether rents are controlled. However, it seems that the role of rent regulation depends on the context and one should take a closer look at specific cases. We look at Nordic welfare states that are similar in that all represent the social democratic welfare model but different in their housing regimes by which we mean the basic principles of how housing provision in the country is organized.

Alternative action organizations across different welfare and third sector regimes during hard economic times

ABSTRACT Since 2008, the international economic and financial crisis has been affecting the living and working conditions of European citizens in different ways and scope. Yet, the pattern is of rising unemployment, social deprivation and poverty, cuts in health, education and social security budgets. These negative socio-economic conditions have led to major transformations in collective responses, which, among others, take place through Alternative Action Organisations (AAOs). The specific organizations carry out non-mainstream activities that primarily target the economic and the social well-being of citizens, including their basic needs, health and lifestyles. Using quantitative data from the LIVEWHAT project and drawing on social origins theory and resource mobilization theory, the article investigates AAOs’ main characteristics across four European countries that have been differently affected from the recent recession as well as belong to different welfare state and third sector regimes, including Germany, Greece, Sweden and Poland. The findings stress the importance of considering the particular combinations of the welfare state and third sector regimes as well as the severity of the experienced economic crisis in understating the variation in AAOs’ main features under a comparative perspective.

The Welfare State with Private Alternatives: The Transformation of Popular Support for Social Insurance

Private alternatives to the public provision of welfare state services and benefits have expanded in almost all OECD countries over the past decades. In this paper, we study how this change affects patterns of public support for the welfare state and, in the long term, the political sustainability of solidaristic social policies. Our core argument is that the availability of private alternatives undermines support for public provision of social insurance policies, in particular among the middle and upper-income classes, whose political support is crucial for the political viability of the universalist welfare state regime. We test our theoretical claim empirically with survey data from the ISSP Role of Government module for 20 OECD countries.

Social welfare versus transnational social protection regimes: the changing roles of church and state

ABSTRACTIn this article we argue that transnational social protection (TSP) is becoming the norm in the context of globalisation, heightened mobility and neoliberalism, but cannot be understood without addressing its religious components. TSP differs significantly from national welfare state regimes, which place the responsibility for providing social support firmly on the shoulders of the state. In contrast, TSP regimes involve multiple actors and opportunities in origin and receiving states and place most of the onus for social protection on individuals and families. This article investigates church and state interaction in the development of TSP across the Italian, Mexican and Filipino contexts. It advances scholarship in three key ways: first, it showcases how TSP is replacing state social welfare arrangements and brings to light those shifting church-state entanglements that are central to this shift; second, it highlights the historically rooted trajectories of church-state entanglements that these three cases have in common; and third, it shows that as TSP becomes a state tool in governing non-resident citizens, the church's critical stance in relation to state provisioning is central to TSP as a mode of migration government.