Jon Kvist

Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism: The Making of a Classic

In this introduction to the special issue, we review the various debates spurred by Esping-Andersen’s The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Tracing its impact since the book’s publication in 1990, we show that Three Worlds continues to be the point of reference for comparative welfare state research. A content analysis of articles in the Journal of European Social Policy citing the book indicates that Three Worlds may even have obtained a paradigmatic status and that its claims and findings are often taken for granted rather than challenged. We conclude that Three Worlds has become a classic that is likely to continue to have a major influence on welfare state research in its next 25 years.

Does EU Enlargement Start a Race to the Bottom? Strategic Interaction among EU Member States in Social Policy

This article examines whether Eastern enlargement has led the EU 15 member states to enter strategic interactions implying a race to the bottom. The question is whether concerns about welfare migration have led to downward pressure on the EU 15 member states in the form of more restrictive access to their labour markets and adjustments of their social policy benefits. We find little empirical evidence to support the asumption that welfare states with generous benefits and accessible labour markets will become magnets for welfare migration. Nevertheless, the study demonstrates that the EU 15 member states do enter strategic interactions as if such migration would occur. The majority of them have temporarily restricted the free movement of workers from the acceding countries. EU 15 member states with the least restrictions are the ones most active in adjusting their social policies. Strategic interactions in social policy may thus intensify in the future as transitional periods come to an end and future enlargements come into place.

Welfare reform in the Nordic countries in the 1990s: Using Fuzzy-Set Theory to Assess Conformity to Ideal Types

This article uses a new method for policy analysis, fuzzy-set theory, which is a framework that allows for a precise operationalization of theoretical concepts. Fuzzy-set theory is used to assess the conformity of the Nordic countries to a pre-conceptualized ideal-typical Nordic welfare model. This permits us to assess recent welfare reform and judge whether changes are of a qualitative or quantitative nature, i.e. whether reform amounts to differences in kind or degree. Comparing the development of benefits in kind and cash within three welfare areas (families, the unemployed and the elderly) during the 1990s and across the Nordic countries gives us an opportunity to assess patterns of welfare reform. The patterns of welfare reform are complex, but fuzzy-set theory permits the study of diversity. Despite numerous changes, all the countries still belong to the Nordic welfare model, although to varying degrees. Generally, Finland and Sweden have implemented more cut-backs than Denmark and Norway, and all countries have both expanded and contracted welfare programmes. Resilience at the national level thus masks a differential development between welfare areas and within welfare programmes. Tentatively, it seems that welfare policies operate within upper and lower limits which in turn are likely to vary over long time periods and among different types of welfare states; the most generous programmes are liable to cut-backs and the least generous programmes to improvements.

The post-crisis European social model: developing or dismantling social investments?

This paper offers a theoretical and empirical contribution to our understanding of the changing European social models in wake of the economic crisis and the promotion of social investments by the European Commission. Theoretically, the article provides a conceptual framework for comparative macro-analysis of social investments that takes into account how social investment policies and returns vary over the life-course and are interdependent. Empirically, the article uses this conceptual framework to examine whether EU policy strategies and national welfare reforms follow a social investment approach. Analysing developments of social investment strategies and policies in three life-stages, the article finds that many EU strategies embody elements of a social investment strategy whereas the impact of the crisis on the national level differs across countries, life-stages, and policies. In most countries, the overall policy impact of the crisis seems to be small on childcare coverage, large on youth polarization, and to increase retirement ages. The crisis will be felt in years to come with reduced life-income for younger cohorts, lower fertility laying the ground for intergenerational conflicts, and migration of skilled youth implying returns of social investments made in southern parts of Europe benefitting northern parts. That said, the overall evidence points towards social investments taking a larger role in Europe after the crisis. However, the result is unlikely to become a uniform European social investment model as the countries most in need of social investments are also the countries least likely to develop high-quality social investments.

Danish Labour Market Activation Policies

Under the heading of flexicurity, Danish labour market activation policies are receiving international attention because of their perceived ability both to curb unemployment and to boost employment. Indeed, the objectives, target groups and design of activation policy have undergone a remarkable transformation over the past fifteen years. From the initial curbing of unemployment among the insured unemployed through standard activation offers, the aim today is also to increase labour supply among non-economic active groups using individually tailored programmes. Danish activation policies this embrace not only active labour market policies but also social and integration policies. Despite widespread popularity and belief in the positive effects of activation, little is actually known about its overall impact on the Danish economy.

Measurement validity in comparative welfare state research: The case of measuring welfare state generosity

Examining the generosity of welfare states and individual benefit schemes is a classical task in comparative welfare state studies. Three types of welfare states can be discerned based, in part, on their level of benefit generosity. Although significant advances have been made in the development of measures of welfare state generosity, this progress has not been without its challenges and limitations. In this article, the authors examine two sets of limitations related to measurement validity in comparative welfare state research: securing content validation and ensuring comparability across time and place. Through the use of illustrative examples to compare the situation of the unemployed in five European countries across several income levels and two family types, we demonstrate that, by profiling and stacking public benefits using the OECD Tax-Benefit micro-simulation model, we are able to carry out a more informed analysis of the redistributive strategies of the welfare state.

An American dilemma in Europe? Welfare reform and immigration

This chapter argues that in order to observe immigrant-targeted welfare retrenchment, researchers need to analyse more than levels of benefits. Focusing on policy programmes that provide a disproportionate amount of benefits to immigrants, especially those who are newly arrived, on eligibility criteria and the conditions and sanctions that are imposed on benefit claimants and their families, and on policies that regulate entry into and expulsion from the country, the authors uncover a variety of strategies through which governments can affect immigrants’ access to welfare benefits. The chapter covers the period from the 1990s through the 2000s and observes that relatively similar measures were adopted both in the UK and Denmark, indicating that a new ethnic divide marks the politics of welfare reform. However, the prediction that Europe follows in the footsteps of the United States is not fully supported, as the restrictive measures are accompanied by policies aimed at increasing immigrant integration and limiting social exclusion.

Do tax-benefit packages treat families in the same manner when unemployment strikes?

Social protection against unemployment is on the European agenda because of the economic crisis. Since European family patterns have changed over the last three decades, the social protection for unemployment may be very different during this economic crisis from what it was previously. In particular the combination of more diverse families and high unemployment raises the general question of how todays systems of social protection cater for different types of families and income groups. Based on a micro-simulation analysis, this article examines how, and to what extent, packages of social security provide support for various types of unemployed families at different income levels. The comparison is between four countries representing different welfare state models and dominant family types. Using the OECD Tax-Benefit model, the article surveys the disposable income and provides a breakdown of benefits for different family types facing unemployment. It takes into account housing costs and childcare costs, and the benefits related to them. The analysis shows that unemployed families experience different levels of support depending not only on the country they live in, but also on their income level and family type. Often differences between families at different income levels within countries are larger than differences between families at the same income level between countries. The analysis illustrates how important it is to look beyond unemployment insurance and include family related benefits to understand the support provided to families faced with unemployment.